The complexity of food choice behaviours is well captured in a decision-making context where an individual must compare more than one attribute at a time to make a satisfactory choice. These attributes may be taste, price, familiarity and so on. Today, healthy and sustainable diets are encouraged to be widely adopted to improve both human health and the environment. As such, there is a need to better understand how meat-eaters, vegetarians and vegans differentially prioritise attributes when making their food choice. Furthermore, in navigating decisions about what to eat, people both construct and rely on a food-choice identity, which makes it interesting to explore the nuances of food choice behaviour through the lens of identity.

In this online study, adults in Australia (meat-eating, vegetarian/vegan), will undergo a Discrete Choice Experiment (DCE) where we evaluate how meal choices are made based on varying attributes and how this may differ across dietary groups. Importantly, a validated Dietarian Identity Questionnaire (DIQ) will be used to map the Dietarian Identity with food choice in the DCE.

Findings will contribute to a better understanding of how food-choice identity may influence attribute prioritisation in food-related decision-making and help develop tailored interventions in driving healthy and sustainable eating among adults. 

Project Goals

The main objectives of this project are to:

• Understand how food-choice identity differs between meat-eaters and vegetarians/vegans

• Explore the attributes driving food choice behaviour in a decision-making context between meat-eaters and vegetarians/vegans

• Assess how individuals vary in their prioritisation of food attributes based on food-choice identity

Authors

• Ramya Rao

• Andika Wicaksono Putro

• Tracey Van Grunsven

• Qian Janice Wang

• Gie Liem

Acknowledgements