Flexitarianism and Veganism have become very popular in the last few years, the trends are enlightening consumers to reduce or avoid their consumption of animal based products. Food companies need to be continuously innovative in order to maintain market leadership. Their challenges consist of needing to produce cutting-edge products able to attract and satisfy constantly changing consumer trends.
The flexitarians or flexible vegetarians reduce animal protein of the center of the plate to focus their eating habits in plant-based dishes.
Is flexitarianism the first conscious step to a vegetarian, and finally a vegan diet? Or is it a permanent way of eating?

This study aims to understand two behavioral factors: the first one, the impact and effect of these trends in Argentinian consumers, and what is the main reason why they are moved to change their food habits; the second factor contemplates the flavour profile preference when consumers are reducing the consumption of animal products. The acceptance or rejection of animal notes in analogue products is a key point to understand in the food and beverages business. To cover both factors, qualitative and quantitative techniques were used. The qualitative stage consisted of twenty two in-depth interviews to consumers that declared themselves “Flexitarians”. With the answers and insights obtained from these interviews, the quantitative stage took place. An online survey was designed to validate the qualitative findings. Six hundred respondents, recruited with an external agency (Toluna), participated in the questionnaire.

The results indicated that different grades of flexitarianism exist in Argentina, and that consumers are worried about the origin and manipulation of the food along the supply chain, but what worries them the most, is the search of life-quality through their physical well-being.
Regarding the flavour profile preferences, consumers that declared themselves 100% vegan rejected animal notes in analogue products. Consumers that declared themselves flexitarians or “reducitarians” affirmed that the presence or absence of animal notes depends on the food category or food segment. They might prefer a non-dairy cheese with dairy notes, but they would accept almond milk with nutty and burnt notes.