Experience with Plant-Based Meat Substitutes Promotes Sustainable Diets and the Intention to Eat Less Meat

Dietary shifts toward more plant-based diets in affluent populations are critical for climate change mitigation and environmental and public health protection. Plant-based meat substitutes (PBMS) offer a promising transition pathway, yet causal evidence of how real-world consumer experience shapes product evaluations and adoption, meat substitution, and food policy support remains limited. Drawing on dual-process theory, we conducted a twowave field-embedded survey experiment with 1219 Swiss residents. Participants randomly assigned to the treatment group received multiple home-delivered PBMS products, enabling repeated, low-effort exposure. Experience with PBMS improved product evaluations across multiple dimensions and increased the intention to consume PBMS and reduce meat consumption, with stronger effects among individuals with lower prior PBMS familiarity. In a simulated online shopping task, treated participants selected a higher share of PBMS products, although aggregate meat substitution effects were limited. The effects on policy support were selective and less consistent. These findings highlight the key role and limitations of experiential learning in supporting dietary transitions.