Meat and masculinity in the Norwegian Armed Forces Charlotte Lilleby Kildal * , Karen Lykke Syse Centre for Development and the Environment (SUM), University of Oslo, Pb.1116 Blindern, 0317 Oslo, Norway article info Article history: Received 18 January 2016 Received in revised form 10 November 2016 Accepted 23 December 2016 Available online 28 December 2016 Keywords: Military Norwegian Armed Forces Soldiers’ diets Meat Masculinity Mentality Sustainable diets 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 con- sumption. 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. © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Meat is frequently addressed in public debates concerning health, food safety, food security, environmental issues and the economy. Studies on meat consumption have predominantly focused on animal welfare, yet recently, meat’s association to sus- tainability, global justice and climate change have become themes for research too. There is a growing awareness about the substantial impact a reduction in meat consumption could have (Garnett, 2011; Gerber et al., 2013; Grønlund, 2015; Westhoek et al., 2014). As much as 30% of global biodiversity loss and 14.5% of greenhouse gas emissions stems from animal husbandry (Gerber et al., 2013; Tilman & Clark, 2014; Westhoek et al., 2014). Furthermore, the production of livestock needs immense land areas, requires large quantities of water, and last but not least animals are fed with grains that could have fed people (Steinfeld et al., 2006; Westhoek et al., 2014). Several authors point to the lack of political action to address the global increase of meat production (Austgulen, 2014; de Boer, Sch€ osler, & Aiking, 2014; Fuchs & Lorek, 2005; Spiller & Nitzko, 2015), although recent exceptions can be mentioned, such as the dietary guidelines in Brazil (Monteiro et al., 2015), Sweden (Friel et al., 2009) and China (Stoll-Kleemann & Schmidt, 2016). Even though an increasing body of research concludes that meat consumption ought to decrease for sustainability reasons, few studies take into account how cultural and social dimensions can be an obstacle (Macdiarmid, Douglas, & Campbell, 2016). There is a need for further interdisciplinary research on the interconnected- ness of factors motivating meat consumption and the appropriate strategies to shift diets (Stoll-Kleemann & Schmidt, 2016). This study explores a governmental body's attempt to address more sustainable meat consumption, by investigating the process of implementing Meat free Monday (MfM) in the Norwegian Armed Forces. Norwegian public institutions purchase several hundred milliard Norwegian Kroner (NOK) of goods annually (Difi, 2015), and it is essential to understand how public spending can be shifted towards sustainability. In addition, the military as a social arena has the potential to influence and educate young people through information, possibly directing their consumption habits towards more sustainable choices. Serving in the Norwegian Armed Forces is compulsory, and from 2016 women were also called in. About 9000 of the Armed Forces' personnel employed each year are conscripts, requiring a minimum 12 months service at a military camp. There are three branches, the Army, the Navy and the Air Force. Although National Service is mandatory, service personnel must still meet rigorous physical and psychological criteria, and only 12-13% are selected (Forsvaret, 2016). In short, the empirical starting point was the following: In November 2013 the Norwegian Armed Forces announced that they * Corresponding author. E-mail address: charlotte.kildal@sum.uio.no (C.L. Kildal). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Appetite journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/appet http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2016.12.032 0195-6663/© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Appetite 112 (2017) 69e77