Background: The consumption of meat in western societies keeps growing. This leads to a paradox, with a growing awareness in the society of health and environmental issues regarding meat consumption and a growing willingness to substitute meat more often.  Purpose: Explore the intentions of households with elementary school children to consume meat substitutes and to match these intentions with the actual behavior to find the extent of the intention-behavior gap and how they explain their intentions, behavior, and potential disconnect. Method: To understand the actual behavior of the households, two weeks' worth of grocery receipts were collected and analyzed. To explore intentions, additional semi-structured interviews were conducted, where the participants got the opportunity to explain their intentions, behavior, and gap.  Conclusion: The results show that there are three types of consumers, depending on the level of intention. The profiles differ whether they feel the need to explain their intention or the intention-behavior gap. To explain themselves,  All profiles state that meat is too delicious to leave out and that meat is a habit formed in childhood. Depending on the profile, additional reasoning was more internal or external.

Food choice has intrigued generations of scholars seeking insight into the rituals that characterize the cultural and sub-cultural values of various nations and eras. Among the more recent cultural phenomena to influence theories about the body is food choice. Perhaps there is no argumentative issue more pervasive than that of food choice, because everyone must eat. The morsels that people consume are chosen as often as not for their symbolic value. A review of the literature of dietary discourse and representation reveals a gap where studies of vegetarian and vegan identity, mass media, and mass markets are concerned. This dissertation utilizes theories of representation, cultural studies, and discourse analysis to uncover culturally specific attitudes in the marketing of food with regard to vegetable-based diets, the foods that they consist of, and the people who eat them.

Meat substitutes are an increasingly popular subject area for sustainability studies and industrial transition.  A transition to plant-based alternatives requires a substantial value chain with the ability to withstand transitional structure and market changes. While the value chain poses challenges at each level, considering the topmost level reveals unique market dynamics specific to the agriculture of legumes.  Western markets have shown a trend favoring plant-based protein as a sustainable source of nutrition however, research on raw material sourcing, processing, and its market structure is limited, often with low government intervention. The Indian agriculture sector comprises mainly legume farming, contributing to a significant portion of the country’s economy. This thesis aims to describe the actor interactions in the Indian agriculture sector with a focus on drivers and hindrances that promote and limit the growth of the legume agriculture technological innovation system.  Using qualitative research methods to gather data from candidates directly involved in the legume trade has proven insightful. Findings show that there are complex interaction scenarios between the actors involved. Restricted by the size of farming area, target markets, and market convention, farmers are subjected to a lock-in type scenario with respect to sales and purchasers. Although government intervention offers protection and assistance, it remains a safety net for the agriculture community. Authoritative influence is used to promote policy however, interactions between actors are not optimized to support this change effectively.  Inter-organizational and actor networks are weak apart from certain business relationships arising from contractual obligations. Knowledge development is present but formal procedures of knowledge diffusion are absent, leaving opportunities not being capitalized on. The study discusses the merits and demerits of this system using the Technology Innovation System framework functions for the analysis. Limitations of the theoretical framework is discussed as a modified version of the framework is utilized in this thesis, giving importance to interactions and localized application of TIS functions.

Plant-based meat (PBM) fulfills the criteria set by the European Union regulations for the product to be sold in the EU and is currently a highly consumed conventional meat substitute in the region. Whereas, cell-based meat (CBM), as of July 2023, does not fulfill the criteria set by the EU regulations for the product to be legally sold in the EU. This is due to CBM companies not submitting the required Novel Food application to EFSA to recieve market approval. Therefore, CBM is currently not legally sold in the EU and not consumed in the region. This thesis analyzes the impact of EU regulations and consumer behavior, and how these factors affect the growth of the PBM and CBM markets. The restriction of the thesis, the PBM and CBM markets, has been chosen due to them being the primary forms of alternative proteins that are a more sustainable choice to conventional meat. The intention of the thesis is to bring attention to the interplay between law and business, and the implications of their interconnectedness. The thesis is written with the aspiration to answer the question; to what extent have EU regulations and consumer behavior affected the expansion of the plant and cell-based meat markets? To this end, we began with determining if the legal criteria of the regulatory framework applicable to PBM and CBM constitute equal regulatory conditions for the markets to expand in the EU. The regulatory framework referred to in the thesis is restricted to the primary legislations applicable to alternative proteins, which are the Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) Regulation (EU) No 1829/2003, Novel Food Regulation (EU) 2015/2283, EU Food Law Regulation (EC) No 178/2002, Food Information to Consumers Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011, and EU labeling requirements. We then conducted a collection of previous research on both the PBM and CBM markets restricted to sustainability, retail market, consumer behavior, financial investment, development, and production processes and costs. Thereafter, we compared the previous research and the aforementioned EU regulations to conclude the impacts of the regulations and the differences in the legal application between PBM and CBM. We also conclude how consumer behavior impacts the growth of a market in addition to the regulatory requirements, and showcase their combined effects on the market. The results suggested that compliance with EU regulations determines if the products are authorized to be legally sold in the EU while consumer behavior influences market acceptance and the extent of growth. The key regulatory difference affecting the ability of CBM to comply and experience similar growth to PBM is the Novel Food Regulation, due to it categorizing cell-based products as novel foods. As of May 2023, no companies in the EU have submitted a Novel Food application to EFSA for CBM.