In this second post, we will continue to explore the differences in food consciousness between vegetarians and non-vegetarians in the U.S., Japan, and China. For those who missed our first article, on the percentage of people in these countries that identify themselves as vegetarians, please see below:

https://koeeru.com/en/foodsurvey/

What People Consider When Shopping

Daily Necessities (Cheese, Butter, Eggs, Yogurt, Etc.)

What factors are important when people make purchases at the supermarket? In our survey, we found that non-vegetarians were mostly concerned about price, whereas vegetarians tended to be more conscious about health-related topics such as an item being organic, its processing methods, or the number of calories.

Carbohydrates (Bread, Rice, Pasta, Etc.)

When looking at carbohydrates (bread, rice, pasta, etc.) however, price and production / consume by dates were the most important considerations, regardless as to whether the buyer was vegetarian or not.

Ingredients Checked When Purchasing

Daily Necessities (Cheese, Butter, Eggs, Yogurt, Etc.)

In our survey, it was clear that non-vegetarians don’t care nearly as much about ingredients as vegetarians do. In particular, vegetarians often check ingredients or nutritional values as related to health, such as sugar content or protein levels.

Carbohydrates (Bread, Rice, Pasta, Etc.)

Of particular note was the level of non-vegetarians who indicated that they didn’t have any particular concerns. Conversely, vegetarians showed greater concern for most items, indicating a generally high level of food consciousness.

Survey Methodology

• Target Countries: USA, China, Japan
• Sample Size: Japan, 500; USA and China, 505
• Sampling Method: Internet Survey
• Target Population: General Consumers
• Survey Dates: August 22nd – 30th, 2022

Summary

In general, our results showed that vegetarians are highly conscious about food.

The high interest in items related to safety, such as organic or processing methods, and the high percentage of respondents checking nutritional contents such as sugar content or protein content in some ways makes sense. It seems that because vegetarians pay close attention because they have to replace staple foods with plant-based items. Since they are already paying close attention to this, it is no wonder they pay attention to other items too.

In addition to breakdowns by daily necessities and carbohydrates, we have similar data for other food and beverage categories. If you are interested in this data, please feel free to contact us.