Increasing the appeal of plant-based foods through describing the consumption experience: a data-driven procedure

Global meat consumption is a significant contributor to greenhouse gases emissions and environmental degradation, therefore, shifting diets to plant-based products will help to protect planetary health. However, omnivorous consumers often perceive plant-based products as less tasty and appealing than their meat-based counterparts. Previous research has shown that presenting plant-based dishes in terms of the rewarding aspects of consumption (i.e., with consumption and reward descriptions) can make them more appealing. Here, we report three online studies (using the research platform Prolific) to illustrate and test a systematic, data-driven procedure for generating such consumption and reward descriptions. In Study 1 (N = 653), we asked participants to rate the extent to which various sensory, context, and hedonic features were viewed as positive or negative in relation to 20 savoury dishes. In Study 2 (N = 246), we selected the most positive features from Study 1 and asked participants to rate the fit of these features in relation to 12 novel plant-based dishes. In Study 3 (N = 1,204), we used the features with the highest “fit” scores from Study 2 to examine whether descriptions that incorporated them could increase the appeal and intention to order the same 12 plant-based dishes. As predicted, consumption and reward descriptions led to significantly higher dish appeal and order intentions compared to control descriptions. Consequently, consumption and reward descriptions may help to increase the consumption of plant-based foods, reducing the demand for animal-based products and the associated greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental impacts.