Concerned about the environment or animal suffering, those who have given up meat still face social pressure, and the worry or annoyance of some close friends. Who can, however, let themselves be convinced.
Dressed all in red and white, around thirty party-goers sit down at a restaurant on the banks of the Adour. Raphaëlle and her colleagues are taking part in their company lunch during the Bayonne Festival (Pyrénées-Atlantiques). The guinguette offers a single menu with fish as the main course. “I didn’t dare say anything…”, regrets the one who joined the company recently. Raphaëlle has been a vegetarian since 2016, but at that time, she “had the pressure” and chose to force himself.
During holidays with friends or family gatherings, the subject of diet regularly comes up at the vegetarian table – especially in summer, the season when barbecues are a popular theme. Raphaëlle experienced these debate meals around meat consumption seven years ago. At the time, this Vendée woman decided to ban merguez and chops from her plate after watching a video from L214, the animal protection association, known for its shocking reports. “But at first, I felt compelled to continue eating meat to please others.”recalls the 28-year-old. Her parents, omnivores, had a hard time understanding. During family celebrations, “They asked me to eat the capon or the roast prepared by my grandparents so as not to upset them.”
In 2020, 2.2% of French people said they had stopped eating meat, according to a survey by the Ifop institute, and 24% declared themselves flexitarians, a term without a very strict definition but which reflects a desire to limit the place of meat products. A trend that has changed very little since then, according to specialists interviewed by franceinfo. Animal suffering, the consequences of livestock farming on the environment, medical reasons… There are many reasons for adopting a vegan diet (without animal products), vegetarian diet (without meat), or simply eating less meat.
But more than the taste of Sunday chicken and chips, what sometimes holds people back from taking action is the fear of how others will react, according to Christophe Terrien, a lecturer and researcher at the University of Picardie Jules-Verne, a specialist in the behavior of meat consumers: “The difficulties associated with reducing meat consumption are mainly psychosocial, because food is a social marker, like clothing for example. It is part of identity.”
This is why Coralie, 21, waited until she left to study in Paris to adopt a vegetarian diet. She was already thinking about it in high school, but her parents were breeders, “I know that it would have created arguments that I could have done without. And I didn’t want to hurt them, it goes to the very heart of their work.” The student comes from a family where agriculture has been passed down from generation to generation. “They grew up self-sufficient, I couldn’t see myself telling them: ‘Do without everything you’ve produced'”she explains.
Settled in Isère, his father and mother have been involved in organic farming for four years and manage a herd of 80 cows, fed with their own fodder. Far from the “factory farms” denounced by environmental activists. “It was by growing up on the farm, seeing what their work consisted of and the model of their exploitation, that I understood that it only represented a minority in breeding in France”explains the young student to justify her choice of vegetarianism.
However, when Coralie announced this change of regime to her parents, they saw it as a “fad”, associated in their minds with his new life in the capital and the influence of his “vegetarian comrades”she says. “Declaring yourself vegan in a family is like saying you are pro-RN in a socialist family or even coming out”caricature Christophe Terrien. “Food consumption, and especially meat consumption in France, is part of our cultural heritage, it’s very important.”
“Choosing a vegan diet means breaking away from the social group. For others, it’s a bit like a teenager having a crisis.”
Christophe Terrien, researcher specializing in meat consumersto franceinfo
Coralie continues to eat fish when she returns to her family. But she feels she has broken the taboo on the subject: “My older sister was already wondering about it. Now that I’ve gone vegan, it’s like I’ve opened the door for her.”
Martin (whose first name has been changed at his request) also had to be patient. This young graduate in engineering for 25 years was made aware, during his studies, of the consequences of livestock farming on the environment. It was at this time that he decided to become a vegetarian. But, due to Covid, he was forced to follow courses remotely and returned to live with his parents, in Aveyron. Beyond the organization of meals to be reviewed, the mockery is going well. “It was my brother who teased me the most. He said to me: ‘Real men eat meat. You only eat seeds'”he says.
This stereotype is hard to shake: in 2022, just over one in two French people believed that “eating red meat gives a man strength and energy”according to another Ifop poll. “Red meat is the food most symbolically charged with virile status”analyzed journalist Nora Bouazzouni in an interview with Reporterre. “If you eat an animal, you absorb its vitality. Meat is associated with strength, with muscle. It allows you to reaffirm the domination of man over everything else.”deciphers the author of Steaksism. Putting an end to the myth of the vegetarian and the meat-eater.
Martin also receives comments of this kind in his circle of friends. In his home village, where agricultural activity dominates, “almost All my childhood friends became farmers, some of them livestock breeders. So, at first, I didn’t dare tell them that I had become a vegetarian, because I was afraid they would insult me.”confides the young engineer. “When I told them, some didn’t care. Others told me I was weak, too sensitive, that animals were made to be eaten.”
“The hardest part wasn’t really giving up meat, it was the comments from others. We get teased even though we’re doing it for the planet.”
Martin, vegetarianto franceinfo
This belief, sometimes defended by meat eaters, can be explained by our religious heritage, believes essayist Renan Larue, a specialist in the history of veganism at the University of California in Santa Barbara. “The dominant worldview is anthropocentrism, validated by Christianity: the human being is in the middle, we have always done it like this, we have the right to exploit animals, to kill them…” he explains. In ancient times, this question was already troubling scholars. “We find philosophers at the beginning of Greek history, like Pythagoras, who advocated vegetarianism so as not to make animals suffer. Opposite, philosophical schools responded to them that they had been created by the gods for us, because we are the superior species”says Renan Larue.
Damien, 41, has stopped eating all animal products. He has been vegan for about ten years. “Now it’s no longer an issue”assures this Strasbourg native. But at the time, his decision disconcerted those close to him: “They asked me questions to see if I had been indoctrinated into something shady.”
“My grandmother admitted to me that she asked her doctor if I had fallen into a sect.”
Damien, vegan for 10 yearsto franceinfo
Damien has not always lived in the city. He grew up in the Alsatian countryside, surrounded by animals. “My father had this childhood dream of having horses. One day, we got two ponies. It made me think: if we don’t eat ponies because we have them, what would we do if we had a pig?” It is this reasoning that gradually pushes him to give up meat. His parents run a restaurant, so meals at his house, “it’s important”and a meatless stew, especially for his father, “it doesn’t make sense”. “He understands my approach because it is ethical”Damien emphasizes, however. But at the start, the consequences of such a diet on his health raise questions: “Of the People were worried about me. They thought I was going to be a skeleton in three months.”
Martin also faced fears from his loved ones about his health. Meat being rich in protein, “My parents were afraid that I was deficient in food.”. However, the American Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics assured in 2009, in the scientific journal that it publishes, that “Well-planned vegetarian diets, including vegan diets, are healthy, nutritionally adequate, and may provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases”.
Two years after giving up meat, the Aveyron engineer took blood tests. “They revealed that I had no deficiencies. That reassured my mother, who in turn stopped eating meat.”he said. Because even if everyone defends themselves from proselytizing their loved ones, the vegetarians interviewed by franceinfo see attitudes changing around them. Damien’s father “is very proud when he prepares a custom dish for vegetarian customers”rejoices his son. Friends of Raphaëlle “have reduced their meat consumption”she assures. And Martin’s brother, the one for whom a “real man” does not eat seeds? Two years later, he too became a vegetarian.