title: Meat and masculinity in the Norwegian Armed Forces.
abstract: In 2013, the Norwegian Armed Forces decided to introduce a meat reduction scheme in its military mess halls, for both health reasons and environmental concerns. This article explores Norwegian soldiers' reactions to the introduction of Meat free Monday, and their attitudes towards reducing meat consumption. As of yet, Meat free Monday has not been implemented due to both structural and contextual challenges. We explore both the process and potential of the Norwegian military's Meat free Monday initiative to promote sustainable and climate friendly diets. We found significant barriers preventing the military from implementing Meat free Monday. The main reason behind the resistance to reduce meat consumption among Norwegian soldiers was meat's associations with protein, masculinity and comfort. Our results underline the importance of acknowledging the social and cultural role of food. The study is qualitative and uses focus group interviews as its main methodology.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Development and the Environment (SUM), University of Oslo, Pb. 1116 Blindern, 0317 Oslo, Norway. Electronic address: charlotte.kildal@sum.uio.no.
authors.forename: Charlotte Lilleby
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Kildal
authors.affiliation: Centre for Development and the Environment (SUM), University of Oslo, Pb. 1116 Blindern, 0317 Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Karen Lykke
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Syse
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001290:Attitude; D003469:Culture; D004032:Diet; D004044:Dietary Proteins; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D057228:Masculinity; D008460:Meat; D008889:Military Personnel; D009664:Norway; D036301:Qualitative Research; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D004044:Dietary Proteins
keywords: Masculinity; Meat; Mentality; Military; Norwegian Armed Forces; Soldiers’ diets; Sustainable diets