New Zealand Vegetarians: At Odds with Their Nation

This study was comprised of vegans (38%), ovo-lacto vegetarians (37%), ovo-vegetarians (7.5%), lacto-vegetarians (7.5%), pescetarians (5%), and meat eaters (5%). Of these participants, one-third had either grown up on a farm or were associated with farms owned by family or friends. This segment typically described disturbing or traumatic experiences as children or teenagers, including the killing of farm animals for food, the separation of calves from their mothers, etc.

These experiences undercut the ideal of farming for these research participants. Participants who grew up uninvolved with farming noted relationships with companion animals as key to becoming vegetarian, although rural participants' attitudes toward companion animals were more complex due to the overlap between edible farm animals and companion animals.

Researchers also investigated the notion of New Zealand as a "clean, green, and beautiful" land, although vegetarians in this study stated they did not view New Zealand in this light, as their awareness of animal farming practices and animal exploitation grew. In summary, participants held two competing views of the country, one in which "participants felt marginalized by the resonances of an historically farm-based culture that seemed threatened by vegetarianism," and one where participants considered their position on animal advocacy as "distinctly kiwi, something akin to the other revolutionary stances taken by New Zealand in the past."