Attitudes towards meat and meat-eating among adolescents in Norway: a qualitative study

The aim of this study was to explore the concept of disgust in relation to meat and meat-eating. A sample of 30 high school students (aged 16 to 17 years), 10 urban females, 10 rural females, and 10 rural males, participated in the study. The participants' attitudes towards meat and meat-eating were investigated through interviews of a semi-structured nature and a short, confidential questionnaire. The study showed that disgust was solely related to red meat varieties and not to chicken. There were no vegetarians in our consumer sample, but red meat-eating was more common among males than females. Sensory attributes that were drivers of liking for meat were good taste, good smell and juiciness; these were described by both genders. All the females tended to characterise meat and meat-eating experiences negatively. Their associations were based on disgust, rather than distaste as found among males. Offensive attributes that the females attributed to meat were linked to the animals and their body parts, blood and raw meat, fibrous and chewy texture, fatty feeling in the mouth, and visible fat. Subjects with regular contact with farm animals displayed more relaxed attitudes towards animal production and showed no such disgust reactions. Females also tended to associate meat with "heavy" food that had negative impact on their bodies. They were also less content with their body appearance, dieted more than males, and tended to associate health (in the sense of fat consumption) and food intake to the wish for slim bodies.