Consumer perceptions of different protein alternatives

Consumer literature has looked into how consumers respond to protein alternatives, but this comparison has been haphazard. Sometimes alternatives are lumped together, sometimes individual cases are picked up and comparisons are made in various manners showing no consistency across studies. In the current chapter, we compare a range of protein alternatives against four consumer relevant dimensions: How much do they mimic or are products animal based? How heavily processed is the product? How clearly is it plant or animal based? How familiar is the protein source to consumers? Including relevant behavioral drivers of consumer acceptance for the various categories, this chapter provides an overview of how to compare various alternative proteins, and how consumer acceptance within these various categories can be understood. We found that protein alternatives often have unique profiles across all dimensions and research approaches, suggesting that understanding consumer response to different protein source requires different approaches.