Towards ritual intervention in meat consumption practices: The case of meat in Dutch Christmas meals

Abstract

Meat consumption is widely recognized as socially and culturally embedded, yet sociocultural intervention strategies to reduce meat-eating practices remain underdeveloped. This article aims to help fill this research gap by combining insights from social practice theory, ritual studies, and cultural sociology in order to explore ‘ritual intervention’ strategies. While interventions are usually thought of as initiated from the outside, this article capitalizes on the fact that people both reproduce practices and are able to initiate change through their performance. Using a co-creative approach, we invited young adults to intervene in their Christmas meal in ways that reduce meat consumption and to keep a logbook of their experiences. The logbooks were also used for follow-up interviews. The data were analyzed thematically, to identify distinct intervention strategies. The results show that research participants were able to reduce meat consumption by creatively and often unobtrusively renegotiating the centrality of meat, the ownership of the meal, and the ways in which commensality was achieved. On the other hand, participants found they could not interfere with important values, meanings and objectives associated with meat. Based on this case study, we conclude by articulating lessons for ritual intervention strategies in consumption practices. Such a strategy takes a bottom-up approach, capitalizes on the potential for change through performance, maintains the integrity of practices and identifies entry points for change in the ritual nature of consumption practices.