Vegetarian diet: Perceptions and attitudes of hospitality management

Abstract

Vegetarianism is characterized by a great expansion among consumers as well as food producers and suppliers, which significantly affects supply in the hospitality business. Although vegetarians are perceived as a homogenous group, they are a varied and heterogeneous group, depending on the consumed foodstuffs, which requires hospitality workers to offer a wide variety of meals and combinations of plant origin. This is the reason why this research aims to show attitudes of restaurant management towards vegetarian cuisine and to examine the orientation of restaurants towards vegetarian meals, as well as challenges faced by employees in the hospitality industry. The basic task is to examine and present attitudes of hospitality management towards vegetarian food. The aim of the overall research is to get a better insight into awareness and attitudes of hospitality management towards foods of vegetarian origin, which is reflected in the restaurant offer.

Pilot Study to Reduce Added Salt on a University Canteen through the Use of an Innovative Dosage Equipment

“…It could be due to the fact that these dishes are constituted only by vegetable ingredients, which themselves contain lower levels of intrinsic salt, and tend to have the unpleasant natural bitterness that salt could mask and increase saltiness and sweetness flavors [ 43 , 44 ]. This event may also be caused by the cooks’ lack of practice and confidence in the preparation of vegetarian meals [ 45 , 46 ], but more studies are needed to explore this assumption regarding the possible difficulty of reducing salt in vegetarian dishes.…”

Exploring user-generated content related to vegetarian customers in restaurants: An analysis of online reviews

“…The most convenient way to distinguish vegetarians is according to the food categories they choose to include in or omit from their diet, including semi-vegetarian/flexitarian (consumes vegetarian most of the time, occasionally meat), pesco-vegetarian (consumes seafood), pollo-vegetarian (consumes poultry), lacto-ovo vegetarian (consumes dairy and eggs), lacto-vegetarian (consumes dairy), ovo-vegetarian (consumes eggs), and vegan (does not consume any animal-based products) ( Beardsworth and Keil, 1991 ; Raphaely and Marinova, 2014 ). Many researchers have proposed that the general reasons for selecting a vegetarian diet are health concerns, ethical reasons, the welfare of animals, concerns about the environment, religious faith, social concerns, weight management, flavor, and abomination toward the sensory properties of meat ( Ruby, 2012 ; Hoffman et al, 2013 ; Cramer et al, 2017 ; Plante et al, 2019 ; Šmugović et al, 2021 ). Whatever the classification basis may be, the vegetarian population has become far more varied and complex than may originally have been conceived.…”

Tourism and Emerging Infectious Diseases: More Connections Than First Meet the Eye

“…Restaurant managers, however, express insecurities about their ability to use menu design approaches to direct ordering toward plant-based dishes (Rivera and Shani 2013). Another barrier preventing the transition to plant-based dishes is the perception that sourcing plant-based foods is expensive and preparing dishes without meat is complex and difficult (Šmugović et al 2021). Governments can work with tourism associations to educate chefs on how to create and promote plant-based dishes (Rivera and Shani 2013).…”