CONSUMER MOTIVATIONS AMONG THOSE FOLLOWING MAINLY A PLANT-BASED DIET – LITERATURE REVIEW

Abstract

In the last decades, the so-called civilization diseases have become widespread worldwide and they have been responsible for the largest number of deaths for quite a long time. At the beginning, they characterized the developed countries and were unknown in the third world countries. However, for today this wave of diseases has reached the less developed countries too, while in the developed countries this process has slowed down, and in the case of some diseases, today it shows a decreasing tendency. According to researches, the quality of food has a great impact on the state of health. The popularity of plant-based diet continues to grow today. The driving force of this trend is that people are increasingly concerned about health.

The beliefs about plant-based diets show that the consumers strongly believe in the health protective effect of these diets and in many of the cases this is their primary food choice over sensory appeal. Apart from this, the consumers on plant-based diets have a specific identity and ideological pattern, which is demonstrated by the Unified Model of Vegetarian Identity.