Plant-based nutrition on the rise: every third person in Austria eats at least flexitarian food
Around 22% of Austrians cook purely vegan at least once a week, around 8% completely avoid meat in their diet. This is shown by a recent study by the opinion research institute market agent less than 500 repetitions in Austria.
The proportion of plant-based nutrition in Austria has been increasing sharply for about 10 years and has gone from being a niche trend to being mainstream. With a total of around 2,700 products, SPAR, EUROSPAR and INTERSPAR have the largest vegetarian-vegan range in the domestic trade. The assortment is made up according to the location and the needs of the customers.
According to the current study, 60% of all households cook vegetarian food at least once a week. 22% of the given gifts even state that they prepare a vegan dish at home at least once a week. Already 15% of them use meat substitutes at least once a month.
SPAR Veggie: From a pioneering role to a well-known plant-based brand
“The mix of the SPAR brand SPAR-Veggie and the cooperation with innovative brands such as Veganista or NENI is the innovation engine for the plant-based range at SPAR,” says SPAR Board Member Kaser.
More than half of Austrians have already bought a product from the vegan-vegetarian SPAR brand SPAR Veggie and 92% of the respondents are familiar with the brand. This would make SPAR Veggie the best-known brand for plant-based nutrition in Austria. The volume of SPAR Veggie products sold has increased by 37% in the last 5 years, according to the company.
“Since the introduction of SPAR Veggie 10 years ago, SPAR has played the role of pioneer in the vegetarian-vegan area,” says Markus Kaser happily. The plant-based SPAR veggie range, which already includes 130 products, is getting a new design for its birthday and many trendy new items, such as vegan chocolate, a vegan berry muffin or vegan organic tempeh in three varieties.
Growth potential for meat substitutes
SPAR Veggie is rounded off in the area of meat alternatives by eleven other brands such as Planted or Veganz, which can be found exclusively in the range under “Young and Urban by SPAR”. While vegetables and co. end up in Austrian cooking pots as a matter of course, there is still a certain amount of skepticism when it comes to meat substitutes. 52% have never accessed the plant-based variety. The reasons for this are diverse. Meat is the preferred choice (65%). However, among flexitarians, a third use meat substitutes at least once a week.
In the case of plant-based alternatives, peas, mushrooms or soy are the preferred basis. Felix Hnat, Managing Director of the Vegan Society Austria, confirms: “The majority of flexitarians love regional ingredients. In the medium term, the trend is towards growing peas and legumes in Austria. When it comes to soy, Austria is already very strong.”
Regionality, ingredients and price as decisive factors
The study shows that a meat-free diet is primarily based on moral motives and solidarity with animals, environmental protection and health aspects. Felix Hnat is one who knows the motives well: “In Austria, the food trade and consumers are the driving forces behind the plant-based revolution.” According to a recent study, the decisive factors when buying particularly vegetarian or vegan products are for 41 % is expected to be regional and for around 25% each, few additives and high-quality ingredients.
Veggie doesn’t have to mean expensive
For a fifth of the most important aspects when buying and similar incentives for a plant-based diet the price of the products. “SPAR will also pay attention to an inexpensive choice of articles in the area of plant-based nutrition and will bring new products onto the market that are affordable for everyone,” concludes SPAR Board Member Kaser.
You can find out more about the study and the vegan range from SPAR at www.spar.at.