Abstract
Plant-based food has sparked an international movement giving rise to alternative eating subcultures and significant advances in food science and technology. Encompassing a wide range of eating patterns and lifestyles, plant-based eating has been promoted as a promising solution to some of the environmental and health-related challenges facing our food system. Despite the movement’s international momentum, little research has been done on the way the plant-based movement, one of mainly Western origins, has emerged in non-Western contexts. This study investigates communicative trends connected with the plant-based food movement in non-western food systems. I take Japan as a case study and use social network analysis of the Instagram hashtag #purantobēsufūdo, translated as #plantbasedfood, to identify associations and trends connected with current online conversations about the movement. Preliminary results reveal that seven distinct hashtag groups predominate: sustainability, vegan lifestyles, vegan eating, tofu, home cooking, businesses/branding, and physical spaces. This research provides practical insights into the ways that plant-based food trends and related communication are evolving both in Japan and in diverse cultural contexts. Additionally, it speaks to the broader discourse surrounding how environmentally and technologically driven food trends can be implemented to potentially alleviate the problems plaguing our current food system.
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KEYWORDS
Plant-based Food, Japan, Social Network Analysis, Instagram
