Going Plant-Forward? Dietary Publics and Plant-Based Lifestyle Advocacy in Contemporary China

A growing body of research has examined the rise of civil society efforts to green China’s food system, and this article contributes to such discussions by examining the case of plant-based food and lifestyle advocacy. Amid emerging paradoxes in China’s food production and consumption trends, examining individuals and groups who promote distinct diets such as veganism offers new insights into civil society’s engagement with sustainability transitions. Drawing on an ethnographic approach that combines digital food studies with onsite fieldwork, this study highlights China’s contemporary dietary publics and their overlapping discursive and mobilisation dynamics through four dimensions of advocacy pertaining to education, culture, exploration, and innovation. It finds that a diverse range of actors are effectively coming together under the umbrella of a Plant-Forward Movement, which while predominantly vegan, also encompasses vegetarian and flexitarian practices. Operating in a socio-cultural context in which reducing meat consumption is challenging, these actors occupy a distinct niche within China’s Green Public Sphere. This underscores their potential to drive social transitions towards greener diets and lifestyles.