Is Eating Less Meat Possible? Exploring the Willingness to Reduce Meat Consumption among Millennials Working in Polish Cities.

Reducing the consumption of meat constitutes an important part of the global shift towards more sustainable food systems. At the same time, meat is firmly established in the food culture of most human beings, and better understanding of individual behaviors is essential to facilitate a durable change in contemporary eating patterns. To determine the level and nature of attachment to meat among consumers, the Meat Attachment Questionnaire (MAQ) in relation to the phases of behaviour change in the meat consumption reduction process was utilised. Data collected through a survey carried out among Poles aged 25-40 years living in cities were analysed with the use of Spearman's correlations and one-way ANOVA with Tukey's post-hoc tests. The biggest share of the studied group of millennials (N = 317) never considered reducing their meat consumption (Phase 1-41%) and was described by the highest level of MAQ score in all its categories: hedonism, affinity, dependence, and entitlement. More than half of the respondents in Phase 2 participants ("planners") declared a willingness to cut down meat consumption but had not yet put their intentions into practice. Respondents qualified in Phase 3 declared the highest willingness to reduce meat consumption and were significantly less attached to meat regarding all MAQ categories than respondents in Phase 1. The 9% of the study participants (Phase 4) had already limited the frequency of their meat consumption to "several times a week", this however still remains insufficient compared to the ambitious goals of sustainable healthy diets. Results indicated that meat attachment categories, especially hedonism and dependence, were identified as predictors of willingness to reduce meat consumption. Research exploring the determinants of change and possibilities of effective communication about meat reduction on an individual level in different cultural settings are needed.

Parental Food Choices and Engagement in Raising Children's Awareness of Sustainable Behaviors in Urban Poland.

Promoting sustainable food consumption patterns and understanding factors driving environmentally-friendly food choices is one of the challenges of public health nutrition policies in the 2020s and crucial for the future wellbeing of humans, food systems and the planet as a whole. To assess the impact of sustainability issues on the behaviors of parents living with young school-aged children in Poland a CAWI survey of 1035 adults in urban areas was conducted. A clustering procedure revealed that two of the identified clusters (73% of the sample) rated sustainability factors as important when purchasing food for children but only one of these clusters (29% of the sample) was actively engaged in raising their child's awareness about sustainable behaviors. The third cluster (27% of the sample) had no intentions to teach their children about food sustainability because of lack of time or distrust in these topics. More than 80% of the sample agreed that parents share a responsibility in teaching children about the links between food, health and environment. Principles of healthy and sustainable diets should be incorporated into public health programmes to empower family members to engage in raising their children's awareness and adopt more healthy and environmentally-friendly food consumption practices.

Towards More Sustainable Diets-Attitudes, Opportunities and Barriers to Fostering Pulse Consumption in Polish Cities.

Despite the evidence-based health benefits of pulses and their significant role in sustainable diets, consumption remains at a very low level in highly developed countries. In an attempt to fill in the knowledge gaps on factors influencing this phenomenon, a study aimed at identifying attitudes, incentives and barriers to pulse consumption was carried out in a sample of 1027 Polish urban employees aged 25-40 years. The sample (quota type) was representative in terms of age and gender. Exploratory classifications using Kohonen neural networks were performed to define profiles of participants for each analysed issue. Pearson's chi-square analysis was used to check whether the profiles depended on socio-demographic characteristics of the respondents. The results suggest that very low pulse consumption is a result of lack of habits, discomfort after eating and long preparation time. Pulses were recognized as a good source of protein (72% of the sample), especially among women (81%). Only 43% of the sample saw pulses as a substitute for meat. The majority of consumers pictured pulses as a tasty and healthy food, although they were not sure if this is true for small children. Women recognised pulses as a more environmentally friendly food but this knowledge would not impact their intake. Profiles of respondents with positive attitudes towards increased pulse consumption were identified, constituting 39% of the sample. These consumers could eat more if they were encouraged to do so. This shows that programmes aimed at fostering greater pulse consumption are crucial to activate a change towards more sustainable diets. At the same time, simple and clear guidelines should be developed to overcome the unjustified stereotypes about pulses. These would support consumers to make healthier and more sustainable choices and help professionals carry out effective promotion and education activities.