What is "demitarian"

Demitarianism is the practice of making a conscious effort to reduce meat consumption largely for environmental reasons. The term was devised in October 2009 in Barsac, France at the combined workshop of Nitrogen in Europe (NinE) and Biodiversity in European Grasslands: Impacts of Nitrogen (BEGIN) where they developed “The Barsac Declaration: Environmental Sustainability and the Demitarian Diet”. The declaration was developed due to the implication of large scale animal farming as a primary contributor to disruptions in the nitrogen cycle and the subsequent effects on air, land, water, climate and biodiversity. Overconsumption of meat is also considered to contribute to various health ailments which can be mitigated with reduced meat consumption. Demitarians are committed not only to the environment but to a healthy diet.

The term demi is from the Latin dimedius meaning half. The Demitarian diet is to literally “half” the standard portion of meat products that would be consumed in a regular meal. This portion is to be replaced with a correspondingly larger portion of vegetables or other food products. The diet also allows for the practice of not eating meat on certain days but is not to be confused with “ Flexitarians”. Flexitarians eat a predominantly vegetarian diet, are not opposed to eating meat occasionally but do not have the same unifying environmental reasons for reduction in consumption as Demitarians.