Report · Feb 13, 2020
Climate Change and the American Diet
By Anthony Leiserowitz, Matthew Ballew, Seth Rosenthal and Jillian Semaan
4. Willingness to Make Dietary Changes
4.1. Most Americans are willing to eat more plant-based foods, more plant-based meat alternatives, and/or less red meat.
Although Americans report several barriers to purchasing and eating plant-based foods (see Section 3.1), majorities of Americans say they are willing to make changes to their diets to increase their consumption of plant-based foods and decrease their consumption of meat. More than nine in ten Americans (94%) say they are willing to eat more fruit and vegetables, and six in ten (62%) say they are “very” willing to do so. More than half of Americans (55%) say they are willing to eat more plant-based meat alternatives (products made with vegetables such as soy, potatoes, peas, etc.) and 54% say they are willing to eat less red meat (beef, lamb, pork).
More than four in ten Americans say they are willing to use dairy alternatives (soy milk, almond milk, etc.) instead of dairy-based milk or cream (46%) and/or to consume less dairy (42%).
One in four Americans (26%) say they are willing to eat lab-grown meat rather than meat taken from animals.
4.2. A majority of Americans say they would be likely to eat more plant-based foods instead of meat if plant-based foods tasted better, cost less than meat options, and/or were more accessible.
Two in three Americans (67%) say they would eat more plant-based foods (fruit, vegetables, meat/dairy alternatives) instead of meat (beef, chicken, fish, etc.) if plant-based foods tasted better than they do today. Additionally, about six in ten Americans say they would eat more plant-based foods instead of meat if plant-based foods cost less than meat options (63%), if they had better access to fresh produce (62%), and/or if there were more plant-based food options in stores (61%).
About half of Americans say they would eat more plant-based foods if they had more information about the environmental impact of different products and/or foods (51%), and/or if their family and friends ate more plant-based foods instead of meat (50%). More than four in ten Americans (44%) say they would eat more plant-based foods if someone they like and respect asked them to, but only 13% say they would do so if a celebrity or public figure (athlete, actor, singer, etc.) they like and respect asked Americans to.
