Taste Trumps All

How to get your favorite carnivore to go vegetarian ;) 

If you ask a meat eater to go vegetarian you may be met with resistance. You’ll probably hear responses like, "No thanks, it’s too expensive and inconvenient," or, "My family doesn’t eat that way", to "I just like the flavor of meat."  You may even experience “Vegaphobia”, which is a thing, it’s an aversion to people who follow a vegetarian or vegan diet! 

One study published in the journal Appetite, investigated the reasons why so many people are plain old resistant to a vegetarian diet.  Upon interviewing 579 meat eaters between 19-81 years old about everything from tastiness, cost, healthfulness, familiarity as well as openness to go vegetarian.  They found that most people were open to it, IF they though it would be more delicious.  

If it all comes down to taste, then plant based eaters are in luck.  Our Dole recipe center is brimming with taste tested, plant forward recipes that are sure to please the 5% of Americans that follow a vegetarian diet, the 3% that are vegan and the many more that are experimenting with more plant forward meals according to 2018 Gallup poll. 

Summer is the perfect opportunity to change up your grill game with plant burgers that may even trick the savviest of carnivores!  We put a side by side comparison below to call out the nutrition differences. 

Possibly the best part about embarking on a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle is the variety within meals!  Plant based food are very adaptable to be used many different ways to satisfy many different flavors, including favorite world flavors and ethnic foods – Asian, Italian, Latin to name a few. 

Published July 2020