Owner Sarah Pollinger poses in her vegan butchery Vetzgerei where vegan sausage products are displayed on January 25, 2018 in Berlin, Germany. Photo Credit: Steffi Loos/Getty Images

EnvironmentSociety Germany16. August 2022

Less Meat, Please: Plant-Based Foods On the Rise Here

Over the last few years, a growing number of Germans across all generations are bringing changes to their diet, consuming more plant-based food than meat, both for environmental and animal rights reasons.

“Especially among the young people, you can see a cultural change, because they are much more aware of […] what they eat, how they consume,” says Inka Dewitz of Heinrich Böll Stiftung, a foundation affiliated with the German Green Party.

This generation believes that reforming the food system could contribute to reducing the country’s greenhouse gas emissions. The availability of plant-based products has increased within restaurants, food tech startups, and big food companies, contributing to the dietary shift.

In 2011, Germans consumed 62.5 kilograms (kg) of meat per year. Fast forward to 2021, the number dropped to 55 kg of meat, representing a 12.3 percent decline. There is an increasing number of flexitarians – people who reduce their meat consumption rather than eliminate meat altogether from their diet – vegetarians, and vegans in Germany. Some 2.6 million people, or 3.2 percent of the population, consider themselves vegan, twice more than six years ago. What’s more, grocery sales of plant-based products almost doubled between 2018 and 2020, going from $424 million to $835 million.

Source:
Vox

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