World Vegetarian Day: giving up meat is trending

Those who ate no meat used to often earn pitying looks – and had to make do with side dishes in restaurants. Today, many people live vegetarian or vegan lifestyles, at least some of the time.

The shop used to be a butcher's, as can still be seen on the awning above the entrance. Today, Ayhan Akbal sells burgers, dürüm and döner kebabs behind the former meat counter.

The latter was recently voted the best in all of Nuremberg by the readers of a local newspaper – even though it's vegan, meaning it contains no animal products. “Vegöner” is the name of Akbal's creation, which, besides plenty of salad, contains a meat substitute made from dried soy.

Meat-free diets on trend among young people

At lunchtime and in the evening, long queues often form outside his vegan snack bar. On this particular day, mostly young people with trendy glasses, rolled-up jeans and trainers are sitting outside on the benches. The proportion of people living vegetarian or vegan lifestyles is highest among 15- to 30-year-olds, says Benedikt Jahnke from the Office for Agricultural Policy and Food Culture in Trier. At that age, it's hip to distinguish oneself through food. “The Fridays for Future movement has given the whole thing an extra push.” Vegetarians don't eat meat, but – unlike vegans – don't necessarily avoid eggs and dairy products.

The younger generations were socialised differently, says Ulrika Brandt from the interest group ProVeg. “Compassion and empathy are more readily allowed, meaning animals are often seen as valuable beings and no longer merely as objects or mere sources of meat.” 26-year-old Franziska Bohn has also been eating a vegan diet for some time for this reason. “I don't find it that difficult, because there are now many alternatives available”, she says.

More vegetarian dishes on offer

When snack bar owner Akbal became a vegetarian in the early 1990s, things were quite different. “Back then, there weren't so many nice products“, he recalls. Not eating meat meant, above all, doing without. But in the meantime, many German cities have snack bars like the “Vegöner“. Canteens and cafeterias offer meat-free alternatives every day. And even in many Bavarian pubs, there's at least one vegetarian dish on the menu.

„By the turn of the millennium at the latest, vegetarianism had reached the broad masses“, says Jahnke. According to ProVeg, 12% of Germans eat a vegetarian or vegan diet. The Nutrition Report from the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture puts the figure at six per cent. But: more than one in two Germans describes themselves as flexitarian, meaning they consciously do without meat from time to time.

This is also noticeable in the supermarket. According to the Nuremberg-based consumer research company GfK, sales of meat substitute products such as vegetarian or vegan sausages, schnitzels and patties have grown by more than 50 per cent in recent months. “Meat substitute products have left the niche and are now being bought by large sections of the population“, says GfK expert Robert Kecskes. Flexitarians in particular buy these products. “For many, it's increasingly not a substitute, but an enrichment of the menu.”

Too much meat harms your health

From a medical point of view, it would certainly be advisable for many people to eat less meat. “We have a very high consumption of meat”, says Hans Hauner, who heads the Chair of Nutritional Medicine at the Technical University of Munich. “This can have negative consequences, especially if you eat a lot of processed meat products such as sausage.” Although this claim persists stubbornly, meat is not essential for a balanced diet, and vegetarians do not automatically suffer from iron deficiency.

Every year, World Vegetarian Day on 1 October highlights the benefits of a meat-free diet. Since it was founded in 1977, living vegetarian has become significantly easier. Nevertheless, not everyone sticks with it. “For many, it's just a phase of life”, says nutritional sociologist Jahnke. “But this phase shapes their eating habits going forward.“

Ex-vegetarians usually eat less meat and more consciously, i.e. become flexitarians. According to ProVeg expert Brandt, their number will continue to rise: “In that sense, we will probably be celebrating World Flexitarian Day on 1 October in future.