Reducetarian

In my Vegan at Home article, I talk about my system for eating vegan at home, but non-vegan outside of the house. I gave myself many backpats for coming up with this by myself before realizing that I unintentionally was entering into a whole tradition of other systems that fall under the Reducetarian umbrella. Reducetarians are people who “are committed to eating less meat and dairy and fewer eggs — following their own hearts and individual motivations”, which I think perfectly describes me!

These systems like Meatless Mondays, Weekday Vegetarians or Vegan Before 6 all set some kind of guidelines on when to eat or not eat certain/all animal products in order to reduce overall consumption. These methodologies all include some kind of lifestyle changes, but in a way that make it feel like a diet or more of a gimmicky challenge that is more forgiving to the human psychology than full on veganism and vegetarianism.

I first came across the term Reducetarian through a friend who works at the Reducetarian Foundation and this past month I was lucky enough to go to with them to the 2024 Reducetarian Summit in Dallas, Texas. There I realized the real benefits of having an umbrella label because it helps organize people. More traditional labels/diets are included in the Reducetarian umbrella like vegans, vegetarians, pescatarians, etc, but I think that a unifying cause of reducing meat consumption to end factory farming is an excellent strategic move.