Vegetarianism, veganism for food and for lifestyle: Are eating behaviors one source of identity construct? A qualitative study in French population

Introduction - These last years have been marked by an evolution as to how people feed themselves, highlighting a growing interest for vegetarian food. Vegetarianism at large refers to several types of food that are characterized by the partial or total exclusion of animal foods. This study aims at relating various elements associated to vegetarianism, such as eating motives, behaviors, self-perception and others perception, in relation with the notion of identity. Method - Participants were recruited via vegetarian and vegan (for food and for lifestyle) groups on Facebook, once their agreement was obtained. Six interviews were conducted by a clinical psychologist around the notion of being and identity related to food, as well as the food history of the individual and his/her family. The use of retrospective investigation makes possible to establish a continuity between the past and the current eating behavior. These interviews, once manually transcribed, were the subject of a complex semantic analysis via TROPES software (version 8.4). Results - The results showed a major use of state's and identity's verbs (being, becoming, I) and the personal pronoun we, referring to a construction of both individual and collective identity around the diet. The commitment to vegetarian/vegan diet has been primarily motivated by ethical concern. And, positive feelings have emerged following the adoption of this type of diet, such as pride, inner purity and a sense of being healthy and holy. Despite the fact that their diet is ethically focused, participants spontaneously addressed the issue of weight and body image. Discussion/conclusion - Whatever the food's history of participants, identifications to disorders related to body image or identifications to weight categories have preceded the identification to a specific diet. And the following of a vegetarian/vegan diet appears at the base of positive feelings toward oneself and a better self-esteem. So, we can assume that adopting a vegetarian/vegan diet could improve self-perception. Otherwise, the ethical choice mentioned by the participants, may be an acceptable sociable justification to control more or less the fate of their body (inside and outside). More research is needed to better understand the underlying mechanisms of vegetarian/vegan diet, to explore the personality profiles of individuals and their relation to the body. (C) 2020 Societe Francaise de Psychologie. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.