Who chooses alternative meat and where? Understanding how foodscapes and individual variation shape plant-based meat and cell-cultured meat choices using a Discrete Choice Experiment

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Alternative (i.e., plant-based and cell-cultured) meats can offer a more sustainable option to conventional meat, but they remain a relatively small part of diets. Consumers face many trade-offs during food decision-making, such as between taste preferences, price, health considerations and social norms. However, a gap in the literature remains in assessing the relative importance of these factors in consumers’ decision-making about novel alternative meats. We address this gap by examining how consumers make trade-offs between meat type, price, healthiness, and customer rating when choosing between conventional, plant-based, and cell-cultured meats. A UK-representative sample (N=300) completed a Discrete Choice Experiment comprising twenty tasks, each containing two options with varying attributes in either a supermarket or restaurant setting. Results showed that participants were significantly avoidant of cell-cultured meat, plant-based meat, and options with higher prices, but were significantly attracted to healthier products and those with higher customer ratings. Moreover, these attribute preferences varied by spatial context and individual differences. Participants were more likely to choose the healthier and higher rated options, and were less willing to pay for alternative meat options, in the restaurant versus supermarket condition. Furthermore, preference for alternative meat was mainly predicted by lower meat attachment and more positive attitudes towards alternative meat, but participants’ gender, income, education, meat consumption behaviour, health consciousness, environmental identity, and animal welfare concern had no effect. These findings can inform policies on pricing strategies, social norm interventions, and health signalling across different spatial contexts within the meat and alternative meat industries. Keywords: alternative meat, discrete choice experiment, foodscapes, food preferences, food choice

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Gan, Y. S., Whitmarsh, L., Barnett, J., & Butler, C. (2026). Who chooses alternative meat and where? Understanding how foodscapes and individual variation shape plant-based meat and cell-cultured meat choices using a Discrete Choice Experiment. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/2a5n3_v1