Psychological research shows that the language used to describe food can actually change the way people think about it, which can subsequently influence eating behaviour. Considering that what we eat has a substantial impact on our environment, the words we use to describe plant-based foods is really important for helping people to eat more sustainably. This is especially true when talking and posting about food online, particularly on social media, where a majority of food-related discussions take place in the modern world.

In a study looking at how people talk about food on social media, specifically Instagram, we found that posts about meat foods contained more hashtags related to the pleasure, enjoyment and context of eating than posts about plant-based foods. On the other hand, posts about plant-based foods contained more hashtags related to vegan identity, health benefits and positive environmental impacts than posts about meat foods. Posts about vegetarian foods also contained more hashtags about consumption and reward than posts about plant-based foods, but markedly less than in posts about meat foods. You can see some examples of popular hashtags used in posts for different types of food below:

Popular Hashtags

Meat	Plant-based	Vegetarian
food	veganfood	recipes
foodporn	healthy	food
foodie	whatveganseat	veggie
dinner	foodporn	healthy
bbq	food	foodie
beef	recipes	foodporn
delicious	healthyfood	brunch
yummy	breakfast	dinner
lunch	veganlife	healthyfood
sunday	plantbaseddiet	breakfast

Even though the health consequences and environmental aspects of food are important considerations for diets that support human and planetary wellbeing, they don’t tend to be key motivators when people are choosing what to eat ‘in the moment’. Instead, people typically respond to messaging about the attractive, sensory and desirable properties of food.  As a result, the language that is reflected in food posts on Instagram puts plant-based foods at a disadvantage compared to meat foods. This is because social media users will be exposed to associations that plant-based foods are less appealing than meat foods online, which will then put them off choosing sustainable options in real life. 

So, in order to make plant-based foods more desirable to mainstream consumers, they should be described in terms of the rewarding experience of eating them. Especially when talking about plant-based foods online, think about the following when creating a post: What enjoyable aspects can I emphasise? What features related to taste, texture, smell and sound can I include? What words can I use to represent how it makes me feel?

For example, instead of posting a picture of a salad using the caption:

‘organic, dairy free and low calorie? Yes please! #healthy #veganlifestyle #ecofriendly’

why not post instead:

‘crunchy, nourishing and refreshing? Yes please! #delicious #summer #energised’

By changing our presentation of plant-based foods, both online and offline, we can subtly shift our perceptions of how delicious plant-based foods can be, and rewire our brains towards more sustainable diets.