Hungarians are open to trying meat alternatives

By: Schweiczer Tímea Aina Date: 2022. 11. 07. 20:21

A representative online survey conducted by Pápai Hús Kft. in September 2022 revealed: every fifth person follows some kind of diet in Hungary, 16% of them say they are vegetarian and 4% claim they are vegan.

The perception of meat substitutes is particularly good

Then younger a person is, the more likely they eat vegan meat alternatives, vegetarian and soy-containing food. About 5% don’t eat meat all, but two thirds of Hungarians have meat several times a week, both white (66%) and red meat (39%).

Vegan meat alternatives attract consumers

Nine from 10 Hungarians know about vegan meat alternatives, and every third consumer has already tried these. What is more, 5% regularly eat them, typically vegan burger (52%), vegan meatballs (44%) and vegan wieners (36%). Péter Szappanos, CEO of Pápai Hús Kft.: “The results indicate that Hungarians are very open to trying vegan food, in part because they are increasingly conscious about the quality of food, and the ecological footprint of their diets.” More than 20% of respondents liked every meat alternative they tried, and almost 40% thought the majority of them were tasty. According to the research, even those consumers are open to meat alternatives that haven’t eaten any of these yet, just heard about them. 46% of these people said they definitely want to try them.

Reasons to try meat alternatives

It is young people and those with a college or university degree who are most open to giving up meat or eating less meat. Those who are already doing this said the main reasons are protecting animals and environmental consciousness; 60% named health reasons and 43% mentioned economising. //

This article is available for reading in Trade magazin 2022/11