The vegetarian and vegan food market: characteristics and perspectives

Abstract

This review article uses secondary data to identify the characteristics and motivations of consumers who consider themselves as “vegan” or “vegetarian”, and to assess the importance and characteristics of the Brazilian and world markets devoted to these segments. The“vegetarian” and “vegan” food markets represent a rapidly growing niche in the world that is leveraged by the consumers’ growing concern about the impact of food on their health, the animal welfare, and the environmental impact of production systems, especially the livestock production. These motives have increasingly attracted people who, despite not fitting into the previous categories, share these concerns and want to reduce the consumption of foods of animal origin (the “flexitarians”). This demand has led to a growing supply of products for these consumers, with an increasing variety of proposals ranging from fresh (in natura) food, processed food, or processed food that is similar to products of animal origin (substitutes). This offer is distributed among specialty stores, supermarket chains, restaurant chains, and direct internet sales on specialized websites. The market dynamics of these products is observed both in developed countries and in Brazil.