Health, Ethics and Environment

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This is an author produced version of a paper published in Appetite.

White Rose Research Online URL for this paper: http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/3741/

Published paper Fox, N. and Ward, K. (2008) Health, ethics and environment: A qualitative study of vegetarian motivations, Appetite, Volume 50 (2-3), 422 - 429.

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Health, Ethics and Environment: a Qualitative Study of Vegetarian Motivations

Nick Fox and Katie Ward
School of Health and Related Research University of Sheffield, Regent Court Regent Street Sheffield S1 4DA, UK

Corresponding Author: E-mail address: [e-mail] (Nick Fox)

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Abstract

This qualitative study explored the motivations of vegetarians by means of online ethnographic research with participants in an international message board. The researcher participated in discussions on the board, gathered responses to questions from 33 participants, and conducted follow-up e-mail interviews with eighteen of these participants. Respondents were predominantly from the US, Canada and the UK. Seventy per cent were female, and ages ranged from 14 to 53, with a median of 26 years. Data were analysed using a thematic approach. While this research found that health and the ethical treatment of animals were the main motivators for participants’ vegetarianism, participants reported a range of commitments to environmental concerns, although in only one case was environmentalism a primary motivator for becoming a vegetarian. The data indicates that vegetarians may follow a trajectory, in which initial motivations are augmented over time by other reasons for sustaining or further restricting their diet.

Key Words: environmentalism, ethics, food choices, health, vegetarianism

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Introduction

Abstinence from the consumption of meat and animal products is

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