Advertisement

Are the French going (slightly) more vegetarian?

Genevieve Mansfield
Genevieve Mansfield - [email protected]
Are the French going (slightly) more vegetarian?
People queue to buy vegan food at a food truck during the Calais Vegan Festival organised by the French association Farplace, on September 8, 2018 (Photo by Philippe HUGUEN / AFP)

Its traditional cuisine is definitely heavy on meat and over the years France has won itself a reputation as a nightmare for vegetarians - but there are increasing reports that the French are beginning to turn their backs on meat because of climate concerns.

Advertisement

"I was not happy to find my salad covered in lardons," lamented Chris Welch, in response to a survey by The Local about vegetarian and vegan readers' experiences being meat-free in France - a country where only 2.2 percent of the population is either vegetarian or vegan.

Welch's experience is not solitary. France is known for traditional dishes filled with meat: boeuf bourguignon, steak tartare, confit de canard, foie gras, and more. It is equally known for a strong cultural connection to meat-based foods.

After Lyon mayor, Grégory Doucet, temporarily took meat off school menus in 2021, outcry ensued across the country. Farmers even protested by bringing their cattle, goats and tractors to city hall, as they held up banners reading “eating meat is the basis of humanity.”

But France appears to be slowly changing its attitudes toward meat consumption. 

Advertisement

“People used to be treated as the village idiot if they were vegetarian,” Jean-Pierre Poulain, a sociologist specialising in food at the University of Toulouse told the Financial Times in 2021. “That’s no longer the case.” 

A survey by the Harris Interactive, a public opinion and marketing firm, showed that the French have altered their relationship with meat - eating less, and opting for higher quality. 

Almost half of respondents (48 percent) said they had reduced their meat consumption in some way in the last three years. The French institute of public opinion (Ifop) found in a separate survey that 24 percent of French people consider themselves to be 'flexitarians' - meaning eating semi-vegetarian diets or just limiting their meat consumption. 

While the majority (74 percent) of French people identify as omnivores, eight percent of "omnivores" said that they limit their meat consumption and eat it "less than once a day." 

In terms of people's attitudes, 68 percent responded that they believe France consumes "too much meat" and over 80 percent said they "try to consume less, but better."

The French even seem prepared to part with some delicacies, like foie gras. Since 2015, production per year has fallen sharply, dropping from 18,000 tonnes to 13,900 tonnes produced in five years alone.

Despite changing opinions, the French still eat meat quite frequently. At least one third of French people eat meat every day, and almost 9 out of 10 French people eat meat at least once a week. 

By some reports - including that of the Institute of Climate Economics - French meat intake is not decreasing, but rather changing: beef consumption has decreased by about five percent over the last 10 years, but it has been replaced by poultry consumption which has increased significantly. 

Between 2014 and 2019, the French increased their poultry intake by 15 percent, making them the third largest poultry consumers in Europe, following the British and Germans. 

Who are the French flexitarians?

Even though French people want to eat less meat, that does not necessarily mean they dislike meat or even think it is not tasty. 89 percent of Ifop respondents said that they do like meat.

However, concerns regarding climate change and the environment have become more prominent in recent years. In the Ifop survey, 62 percent of respondents said they "would change their eating habits due to climate change."

This number is in line with the rising number of French people concerned about the effects of climate change, with seven out of ten stating in an Odaxa survey that they were afraid of "being personally affected by a climate disaster." 

 

However, during a press conference in February 2021, Pierre-Hadrien Bartoli, the Director of Political Research at Harris Interactive, explained that the respondents citing climate reasons were mostly young people. 

Other factors - such as education and gender, played a role in meat consumption. Women were more likely to be vegetarian than men, as well as more likely to be flexitarian. 

Advertisement

According to Grazyna Marcinkowska, who runs consumer studies for FranceAgriMer, flexitarians have a specific profile in France: they are "decidedly urban, female and educated."

In comparison, those who identified as omnivores were "mostly men" and more likely to be located in "small towns or rural areas." 

The push for reducing meat-intake for environmental reasons

As part of France's 2021 law to combat climate change, school canteens have become one of the main locations where the country plans to limit meat intake.

As per the law, schools must serve a vegetarian option at least once a week. Schools also have the right to serve a vegetarian option every day, a right that members of France's Green party have been fighting for. 

Additionally, by January 1st, 2023, all workplace canteens managed by state and national public companies must offer at least one vegetarian option.

Readers have noticed France's commitment to meat-free choices in schools as well: "Our children attend French public schools and love the daily vegetarian options (falafels are a healthy, yummy swap for the meat they typically have)," said Regina Sinsky-Crosby who lives in Bayonne.

Advertisement

Even though the French do still love the taste of meat (at least 89 percent of them do), the country is far from topping the charts for meat product consumption. 

Even though more Americans - about ten percent - identified as either vegetarian or vegan, the country still ranked third globally for the most daily meat consumption, whereas France did not even make the top ten. 

More

Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.

Please log in to leave a comment.

See Also