This article explores how meat consumption in the Netherlands has become aligned with ideology. The study leverages survey data from 2008 to 2022 to analyse changes in the relationship between meat consumption and political beliefs. The findings reveal that meat consumption is increasingly associated with right-wing ideology, nativism and, in particular, climate-change scepticism. This comes at the relative expense of predictors such as animal welfare considerations. This shift reflects a broader cultural conflict, where dietary choices symbolize deeper ideological divides. The changing political alignment of meat has implications for the protein transition, suggesting that consumption patterns may become more entrenched, complicating efforts for policy interventions. The study highlights the Netherlands as a significant case due to its multiparty system and the political salience of livestock farming, potentially serving as a bellwether for broader European trends.
Boterman et al. (Sat,) studied this question.