What is Flexitarianism? Why everyone's trying to eat less meat, but not give it up entirely

From Harpers Bazaar UK

Since moving out of her parents to start a life in London five years ago, Nina, a 25-year-old design manager, found herself eating a lot less meat.

"I think I've always preferred veggie options but since I moved away from home and started cooking for myself I was more conscious of what I was eating not only for money reasons but also health and environmental awareness," she told Harper's Bazaar. "I think I used to eat it around two to three times a week and now it's more like once a fortnight."

Nina is part of an emerging group who might identify as "flexitarian". In 2014, the term was added to the Oxford Dictionary, with the definition: "A person who has a primarily vegetarian diet but occasionally eats meat or fish."

In April, a YouGov poll found that more than half of people (56%) no longer view meat as an essential ingredient to their meal. Last year, just under a third (29%) of people said they had reduced the amount of meat in their diet over the year in the British Social Attitudes survey.

More recently, manufacturers Quorn attributed a large spike in their sales to the boom of flexitarianism. Sales of the meat substitute have increased by 19 per cent which the company said was "unprecedented".

As well as statistics and word of mouth, the flexitarian trend is also evident in popular culture. Search #meatfreemonday on Instagram and more than 100,000 results come up, with social-media users showcasing themselves at least attempting to reduce the amount of meat in their diet. Similarly, there are now a plethora of captivating documentaries on the meat industry which have been viewed by hundreds of thousands - like Cowspiracy, which has an 89% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, Joaquin Phoenix's Earthlings and Food Choices, which is on Netflix.

Cowspiracy was one of the films Nina watched which she says put her off consuming beef, as the film largely explores the damaging environmental impact from large-scale meat production.

Another main issue sparking the move to flexitarianism is cost which, according to the Vegetarian Society, accounts for the decisions of 21 per cent of those who have recently reduced their meat consumption.

Mandy, a 26-year-old account manager, has also adopted a flexitarian diet, largely because buying organic, free range meat is so costly.

"It's so expensive and I won't just buy unethical meat for the sake of it being cheaper," she told Harper's Bazaar. "I'll either pay the cost of good meat or no meat at all… Since eating a lot more vegetarian products like Quorn, I've noticed that I've saved a lot more money.

"Plus, vegetables, Quorn and non-dairy products like almond milk usually last a lot longer. Meat goes off quickly so is often wasted anyway."

The main attraction of the flexitarian diet appears to be the 'flexi' prefix. It's not absolute or permanent and is mouldable to however you want it to work in your own life.

"I would find it quite easy to cut meat out all together but I also crave variety and I don't know enough recipes to have a different veggie meal every day of the week," Nina added. Similarly, Mandy says almost all of her home cooking is vegetable-based, but she'll allow herself meat or fish if eating in a nice restaurant in the hope that it is "as ethically sourced as possible".

At the end of last year, Whole Foods Market predicted flexitarianism as a rising food trend for 2017. It seems they were right, and their premonition was partly due to its flexible nature.

"While there are plenty of specific 'special diets' out there, people increasingly feel like there's no need to pick just one eating identity," a spokesperson for the retailer told Harper's Bazaar. "Consumers simply want to eat 'cleaner' or 'healthier' and they're discovering the mix of foods that make them feel best without having to be so stringent about it. We're seeing people go vegan before 6pm; 80/20 eaters who do paleo on weekdays; pescatarians who eat the occasional burger. There's flexibility to celebrate food, but that comes with a mindfulness about what, when and how much we're eating, and how the food is made.

"Flexitarianism doesn't mean any one thing like simply eating less meat. The trend is that people are discovering what works best for them," they said.

That appears to be true. All you have to do is scroll down an Instagram feed to see the ubiquitous #cleaneating, #whatveganseat and #plantbased hashtags that flood the site. There's already so much pressure on what we're supposed to eat, that starting to gradually make healthy or ethical changes is considered by many now to be better than nothing. It is also a relatively unspoken assumption that as a society there is a danger we eat too much meat. The NHS currently advises no more than 70g of red meat per day (that's roughly the equivalent of one lamb chop, two slices of roast beef or one portion of bolognese sauce).

Libby, a 24-year-old production assistant, readily admits that while she favours a vegetarian diet she still eats her fair share of meat and fish.

"When I started learning about the ethics and environmental pluses to being vegetarian, it made me really consider the impact that eating meat has," she says. "[Being flexitarian] generally makes me feel like I'm doing a little bit of my part so that automatically makes me feel healthier, whether that's the placebo effect or not."

Annabelle is the brains behind the UK's flexitarian blog which she started in 2013 to bring attention to the effects of meat consumption on health, animal welfare and the environment. Despite initially being a "committed carnivore", she now mainly eats a veggie diet but acknowledges the guilt-free advantages of flexitarianism.

"It felt right from the start, I enjoyed its flexibility and the idea that nothing was forbidden so there was no guilt factor," she told us. "The flexitarian diet is increasing in popularity especially with people who do not want to commit to a full vegetarian or vegan lifestyle. It allows them a flexibility that they can adapt to their lifestyle, social life or health conditions. This is an easy message as we are not asking people to give up meat but simply eat less of it."

So, is this just another health fad or is the message that we are eating too much meat – and should take active steps to reduce it – here to stay?

Su Taylor from the Vegetarian Society believes that their research indicates that the trend won't be going away any time soon.

"More people are choosing vegetarian dishes all the time," she says. "People are seeing how their food choices can make a difference to animals, their health and the planet around them. It's also becoming easier, too, with more choices appearing in restaurants, cafes and supermarket shelves."

If you're thinking about altering your diet, it is vital to know what nutrient-rich foods you might need to replace. Here's what you need to know if you're considering vegetarianism or going vegan.

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