The vast majority of Russians adhere to the traditional diet of city-dwellers and eat meat. Only one in a hundred Russians is a vegetarian, a recent survey by WCIOM reported. The plant-based eating didn’t become popular in Russia as in western countries. Besides, locals struggle to differentiate between vegans and vegetarians.

Vegans and vegetarians are rare in Russia

All-Russian Public Opinion Research Centre conducted a survey on what people think of vegetarianism. Half of the respondent think that a vegetarian diet doesn’t include any type of meat or seafood products. 45% of respondents believe that it means eating only plant-based food.

• Only 1% of survey participants consider themselves vegetarians. Among people 25-59 this share is higher: 2% of survey takers picked this choice.
• 39% of respondents believe that excluding meat from your diet is harmful to health, while every fifth respondent thinks that avoiding meat is good for one’s well-being.
• 27% of survey participants think that being a vegetarian has no influence on one’s state of health.

34% of those who think that vegetarian is good for one’s health, believe that excluding meat from the diet helps to detox the body. The majority of respondents aged 60+ think that vegetarian food provides more vitamins and other useful elements.

15% of poll participants point out that meat is difficult to digest. Almost the same amount of people appreciates the absence of cholesterol in a vegetarian diet. Low level of harmful additives is important for 12% of Russians.

2018 research shows that only 1 in 100 people in Russia chooses vegetarianism.

Why people in Russia love meat

The respondents who are strongly inclined towards animal protein-based diets believe that there are a lot of useful substances in chicken, pork, beef and other types of meat (33%).

41% of them are young people aged 18 to 24. In their opinion, plants don’t have that many vitamins.

Another reason why being a vegetarian is claimed to be unhealthy, people are confidents that we need the animal protein to satisfy requirements of the body. 13% of Russians think there should be a healthy balance between animal-derived products and vegetables. It’s nearly impossible to live without dairy products and meat for 11% of survey participants.

Russian food

Most people in Russia include processed meat products (sausages, polony, ham, and mince-filled dumplings called “pelmeni”) in their daily ration. The suggestion to avoid such food would be met with a surprise, as without such products people struggle to think what else is possible to eat. Although historically meat was eaten only on special occasions and plant-based diets were predominant in Russia, with porridges, bread and vegetable soups being the everyday norm in addition to seasonal berries, mushrooms and fruit.

The poll by WCIOM was conducted among over 1000 of randomly chosen respondents aged 18 and older from all regions of Russia on 31 July 2018 and then weighted to represent the demographic profile of residents. Yulia Baskova from WCIOM commented that a diet that doesn’t include poultry and meant became popular in the large cities of the country in recent years. Although it doesn’t look like by the statistics date of the current poll, apparently people are aware of what vegetarianism involves and many feel there are advantages to such a diet, although some respondents confuse it with veganism.

“In general, adepts of this diet are viewed normally — as people who are trying to take care of their health to the extent of their understanding,” Baskova commented.

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