Sara Ayech
17
March
2026
The ‘manosphere’ loves meat. That’s the dominant message across social media, Netflix documentaries and media commentary.
So, how true is this? Is it a case of the loudest and most outrageous voices getting an outsize amount of attention, or are men really at the forefront of ditching plant-based options and leading an increase in meat consumption?
The answer is both.
Young men and meat
Young ‘Gen Z’ men in the UK are bucking the general trend of long-term reductions in meat consumption, and are ‘three times more likely than the general population to have increased their meat consumption in the last year’, according to polling by sustainability group Hubbub.
A trend seemingly driven by the protein craze and by ‘carnivore’ fitness influencers in the social media ‘manosphere’, it appears to have had a real impact, at a time when both our health needs and those of the planet, point strongly to a more plant-rich flexitarian diet, with beans, fruit, vegetables, tofu ensuring we complement our meat intake with plant proteins, fibre and the other nutrients we need.
Young men and plant proteins
But, we wanted to understand if there was another side to the story, so we worked with research company Ripple Research, who mapped young male influencers across Tik Tok, Instagram and You Tube and found a strong ecosystem of plant-based influencers with significant and growing clout.
Plant-based influencers: Fitness, taste and wellness
The research revealed that these influencers have ditched the term ‘vegan’ and rarely talk about the environment or animal welfare, instead taking a pragmatic approach to incorporating plant-based foods into their lifestyle goals of: fitness and building muscle; wellness trends like gut health; and the creation of delicious-looking, easy and ‘Instagrammable’ recipes.
These influencers have dropped the ideological reasons for adopting plant-based eating or plant rich eating and the associated notions of sacrifice, guilt and judgement. Instead, they’re focusing on what plant-based food can do for you, how to make it tasty, or how to easily incorporate it into your lifestyle.
In doing so, they flip the script and broaden their appeal.
The other key is the messenger: if viewers see young men with strength and fitness they want to emulate advocating for plant proteins, they are more likely to be convinced.
Ira Pragnya Senapati describes the three archetypes of plant-based influencing among young men in a recent Madre Brava and Ripple Research webinar.
Protein and fibre
The research demonstrates how plant-based options could be incorporated into key trends and growing categories such as ‘protein’ ‘fibre’ ‘gut health’ and ‘functional food’, rather than seen as a separate category.
It also offers new directions and possibilities for campaigns, and new potential archetypes and framings for retailers who are looking for new approaches to plant-based, in a complex customer environment.
We were joined by Ira Pragnya Senapati and Ravi Sreenath from Ripple Research and fitness influencer and nutritionist TJ Waterfall to discuss the trends in how young men are accessing and talking about plant-based eating for a recent webinar. You can find the full webinar here.
