March 25, 2004 – If you enjoy vegetarian food while eating a little meat, you are among the growing number of part-time vegetarians, known as ‘flexitarians’ flexitarians recently approved by the American Dialect Society to report on this new food trend.
Without having exact figures, it is estimated that 30% to 40% of the American population occasionally seeks vegetarian dishes. The veggie food market has thus expanded in recent years: products such as soy milk and veggie burgers are now found on supermarket shelves and on the menus of fast food establishments, thus meeting the strong demand for this new product. type of consumers.
According to a health policy expert in the United States, the growing number of flexitarians is due to the fact that people are more aware of the link “diet and disease”. Flexitarians want the nutritional benefits of a diet based on grains, fruits and vegetables, without losing the source of protein they get from meat and fish.
Health food stores, which initially targeted an exclusive vegetarian clientele, are increasingly frequented by a majority of people who are not. Flexitarians who are concerned about their health can now find natural and organic products, including meat.
Some editors of vegetarian magazines, to attract flexitarians, have relaxed their approach to meatless meals, even at the cost of alienating their vegetarian readers. Thus, until last year, the American magazines Natural Health and Vegetarian Times only published vegetarian recipes. Now the recipes focus on a broader approach to vegetarianism and sometimes include meat. This change would have come, according to the editor of a vegetarian monthly, after a survey revealed that 70% of the readers of these magazines were not vegetarians.
Finally, strict vegetarian groups view the flexitarian trend positively, if only because it reduces meat consumption in the general population, which can only be beneficial for animals. . Currently, 3% of the American population is vegetarian, which represents 5.7 million people.
Aline Charest – PasseportSanté.net
According to C-Health and CNN
