A lot of people's resolutions probably involve eating healthier in order to get the body that they want. However, those who decided to go on a mostly or even wholly vegetarian diet may find it difficult to keep this diet up. Well, even if it is quite far away from New Year's, one may still try the highly beneficial "flexitarian" diet.
It is very noticeable how meatless versions of our favorite dishes have taken over restaurant menus and grocery shelves. Prime examples of this are black bean burgers as well as the now different type of hummus available, as the Sydney Morning Herald points out. There have been no signs of this steadily growing movement stopping or slowing down any time soon. It is said that almost 23 million Americans identify as flexitarian.
Reports show that the toll meat production and consumption brings to our environment becomes more and more noticeable as time goes by. This, combined with the buying power of millennialism, brings vegetarian substitutes to traditionally non-vegan items such as milk and burgers to the forefront. Now, it is no longer that difficult to look for items such as veggie burgers and different types of milk made from soy, almond, and the like. What's great about these items is that they taste almost exactly like the more traditional ones.
According to a press release by Food Ingredients First, the flexitarian movement not only helps with our nutrition and the environment, but it also creates a wide array of new market opportunities. "[Flexitarianism] represents a growing opportunity for high-quality meat alternatives, which is also being reflected in the 24% average annual growth in global meat substitute launches recorded between 2011 and 2015," reports Lu Ann Williams of Innova Market Insights. It is also worth noting that "vegan" has become a consistently growing buzzword in the food industry over the past couple of years.
