Why we choose meat
Meat Me In The Middle aims for people to choose less meat, because meatless foods generally contribute less to climate change. It’s a simple premise, but we understand that many factors go into dietary choices, and change can be hard.
In May 2025, our team surveyed the residents of South Orange and Maplewood (SOMA), NJ, about their eating habits, and 87 percent of our 620 respondents reported that their diets included beef, pork, lamb, and/or poultry (this tracks closely with a 2021 Ipsos national poll that found 89 percent of Americans eat meat). Our survey asked meat-eaters: When you choose foods that include meat, what are your reasons for choosing them? Respondents could select as many reasons as applicable.
Source: MMITM survey of SOMA residents
“I like the taste” was the number one reason. A couple of respondents described meat as a treat, and several shared that they had cravings for meat.
Next to taste, the second most common reason our survey respondents gave for choosing meat was: “Meat is just a normal part of my diet/culture.” Meat is a much-loved part of family and community celebrations for some, and others have eaten it for as long as they can remember. “My mother served meat 5x/week,” one of our respondents wrote.
More than two-thirds of our respondents choose meat because it is a “convenient choice”—the third most popular reason. One noted, “My daughter is a picky eater but will eat meat. So I cook a meal that we’ll both eat and choosing meat is often the most convenient.”
Closely behind convenience, respondents choose meat because they believe that eating it contributes to their good health. Many of them indicated they choose meat as a source of protein or iron. One respondent wrote that they “rarely eat meat, but sometimes it’s the only source of protein available at a restaurant.” Others noted that food allergies, autoimmune conditions, or other health conditions prevent them from getting protein from other sources.
Ranking lower among sometimes/often/always reasons were “Someone else plans meals for me that include meat” and “To build muscle”.
But men cited building muscle as a reason more than women did. Twice as often as female respondents, male respondents said building muscle is “always” a reason when they choose meat. Taste and health were also factors for men to a greater degree than they were for women. Those were the most pronounced differences in the ways that men and women answered the survey question about reasons for eating meat.
Source: MMITM survey of SOMA residents
Meat Me In The Middle sees all these reasons—and others—for choosing meat as valid. But that doesn’t mean that people can’t eat less of it. We will be using these findings and other data from our survey to propose meat reduction strategies that might make sense for the population we surveyed. We hope to give people some recipe and restaurant menu options that taste so amazing that no one misses the meat, for example. And for people eating meat for the protein, we will highlight science about how much protein is needed, and the role that plant proteins can play in a healthy diet (check out, for example, a recent podcast from ZOE: “Are you eating enough protein?”).
Most of the Meat Me In The Middle team members eat some meat. We value having choices, and we look forward to expanding the universe of food choices available to the people of SOMA and beyond.