Among 801 Gen Z adults (ages 18–28) living with their parents in India, 50% of non-vegan respondents said they were likely to go vegan within the next year. The biggest barrier? Simply not having enough information about plant-based diets. The research also identifies three consumer segments: indifferent consumers, constrained consumers, and “game-changers” — and offers practical recommendations for advocates and alternative protein companies on how to reach each group effectively.

Background

India has a deep history regarding meat-eating practices due to religious teachings about which foods to eat, thereby attracting particular interest from animal advocacy organizations. For example, variations of meat restrictions exist in all widely practiced religions in India, including Hinduism (beef restrictions), Jainism (restriction on all meat), Islam (pork restrictions), and Christianity (restriction on some meat). Jains are more likely to restrict meat consumption (97%), followed by Hindus (83%), Muslims (67%), and Christians (66%). Overall, 81% of Indians restrict meat intake in some way.

Indeed, India has the highest rate of vegetarianism worldwide (26–30%), and is one of the countries with the highest rate of veganism (estimated at 9–14%) (World Population Review, 2026; Bryant Research, 2025). However, there is mixed evidence that vegetarianism in India is due to an animal welfare/rights motivation, with the few existing surveys on Indian attitudes towards animals finding high or low pro-animal attitudes and beliefs (Sarma & Hari, 2023).

Instead, religion and caste are the main determining factors of vegetarianism in India (Sarma & Hari, 2023). Hinduism is the most-practiced religion in India, with 80% of adults identifying as Hindu. “Upper”-caste Hindus are more likely to be vegetarian (53%) compared to “lower”-caste Hindus (43%). Nonetheless, “upper”-caste Hindu vegetarianism is focused on notions of purity and therefore perceives meat-eating, especially beef consumption, as “polluting” one’s body. These purity norms have historically been used to reinforce caste hierarchies, marginalizing lower-caste and minority communities whose food practices don’t conform — branding their traditional diets as “immoral” and providing a cultural justification for social exclusion and discrimination. Consequently, vegetarianism in India can carry negative connotations; some view these dietary restrictions as a way to maintain traditional caste hierarchies rather than fostering a genuine concern for animal welfare (Sarma & Hari, 2023).

Furthermore, India is the world’s leading producer of milk and is also one of the largest exporters of beef (Sarma & Hari, 2023). Despite intensifying animal agriculture in India, most Indian adults are unaware of standard practices and misunderstand the term “vegan” (Sarma & Singh, 2023). Lack of awareness may also be the reason why most animal advocacy campaigns in India focus on increasing awareness of farmed animal welfare issues (Sarma et al., 2023).

Relatedly, animal product consumption has grown substantially in India, especially among young adults — the latter likely due to young adults viewing traditional practices as outdated and having more autonomy to eat meat when living away from home (Sarma & Hari, 2023). However, a recent study found willingness to go vegan in India was highest in the 18- to 24-year-old group (Sarma & Singh, 2023). Not to mention, animal advocacy in India is largely youth-driven and targeted at younger adults (Sarma et al., 2023).

Given that Gen Z (those born roughly between 1997 and 2012) Indians make up almost 25% of the country’s population and that living with families is a common practice, this study focused on Gen Z young adults in India who currently live with their parents to better understand household food dynamics. Such research will help inform marketing and communication strategies aimed at positioning plant-based products in ways that resonate with these households.

We therefore asked 801 Gen Z Indians about how household food decisions are made, what motivates their food choices, their openness towards plant-based eating, and their perceived barriers towards plant-based eating, among other outcomes.

Key Findings

1. Gen Z Indians who live at home are pro-vegan, with most respondents being meat-reducers. In our survey of 801 Gen Z adults (18- to 28-year-olds) living with their parents in India, 58% identified as a type of meat-reducer (e.g., vegan, vegetarian, pescetarian, or reducetarian). Only 42% self-identified as an omnivore, and half were open to going vegan. That is, 50% of participants who weren’t already vegan said they were “likely,” “very likely,” or “extremely likely” to go vegan in the next year, and 53% believed their parents were likely to do the same.
2. The biggest barrier to eating a plant-based diet among Gen Z participants was simply needing more information about plant-based diets (59%), while the least common barrier was worrying about their family perceiving it as abandoning their culture for a “Western” vegan diet (37%). Other common barriers included viewing dairy as a core part of one’s cultural identity (54%), needing to go food shopping more often (53%), personal health concerns (other than iron or protein: 52%), and believing there wouldn’t be enough choice when dining out (52%).
3. We identified three distinct groups of Gen Z Indian consumers: Indifferent consumers (Segment 1 — 46% of participants) may be the most difficult group to change, followed by constrained consumers (Segment 2 — 33%), while game-changer consumers (Segment 3 — 22%) were the most open to plant-based eating.
   • Indifferent consumers: They had the lowest control over household decisions, were the least motivated, and were the least likely to go vegan.
   • Constrained consumers: They faced the most barriers to switching to a plant-based diet despite being motivated to do so.
   • Game-changers: They were the most likely to go vegan, faced the fewest barriers, and scored the highest for the food choice motives of taste, health, and animal welfare and environmental protection. However, game-changers also scored significantly higher, on average, than the other segments for the plant-based enablers of capability and motivation, suggesting that equipping them with the right practical tools will be especially high impact, given their existing motivation.
4. Game-changers have a distinct sociodemographic profile compared to the other consumer segments. Game-changers had significantly more women, people with a bachelor’s degree, people belonging to a General Category caste, and those earning more than ₹50,000 per year compared to the other two segments. Game-changers were also significantly older than indifferent consumers, had significantly more full-time workers than indifferent consumers, and marginally more Hindus than indifferent consumers.
5. Less than half of Gen Z individuals who live with their parents in India have high or total control over household food decisions (e.g., deciding what food is bought), ranging between 44% and 48%, depending on the particular decision. When asked about who in the family is primarily responsible for different food-related tasks, 40% of Gen Z individuals said that they were mainly responsible for grocery shopping, but their mothers were primarily responsible for cooking (57%) and meal-planning (39%). Gen Z participants and their mothers also tended to have more influence than their fathers for deciding what to buy (30% and 31% versus 13%, respectively). In contrast, managing the household food budget appeared more evenly distributed with 28% of Gen Z individuals being mainly responsible for it, followed by the father (26%) and mother (21%).
6. Health and taste ranked the highest for food choice motivations. On a scale from 1 (does not apply at all) to 6 (completely applies), health and taste had the highest average scores (Avg = 4.4), while animal welfare and environmental protection scored an average of 4, meaning these motivations were “moderately” important for our Gen Z participants. Moreover, the social pressure scale also averaged around the midpoint (Avg = 4.4 on a scale from 1 to 7), indicating that Gen Z individuals in our sample were “moderately” influenced by friends, family, health experts, colleagues, and romantic partners regarding their diet.
7. The household dynamic of our Gen Z sample was fairly harmonious: only 26% of participants frequently disagreed with their family about food, and 59% said it was easy to discuss food choices with their family. Indeed, when food disagreements occurred, 60% of participants said they came to a resolution afterwards. The most common reason for disagreement was health or dietary preferences (52%).

Conclusions

The purpose of this study was to understand Gen Z Indians’ food motivations, openness and barriers to plant-based eating, household dynamics, and the extent to which they influence household food decisions. Below we describe general trends across our sample of Gen Z Indians who live with their parents, in addition to the three key segments we identified.

Gen Z Indians Who Live At Home: The Pro-Vegan Generation

As mentioned at the start of this report, India is known to have one of the highest percentages of vegetarians (26–30%) and vegans (9–14%) around the world (World Population Review, 2026; Bryant Research, 2025). One of these studies also looked at other diets and estimated 30% of adults in India to be omnivores, 27% as flexitarian, and 3% as pescetarian, based on a small sample of 200 adults (Bryant Research, 2025).

In a large survey of approximately 3,000 young adults in India (aged 18 to 30), 32% identified as omnivore, 34% as vegetarian, 21% as flexitarian, and 6% as vegan (India Karuna Collaborative, 2026). With this in mind, our survey of approximately 800 urban, General Category Gen Z adults living at home revealed a higher percentage of omnivores (42%), lower percentages of vegetarians (27%) and reducetarians/flexitarians (15%), but a similar percentage of vegans (7%). Nonetheless, both studies report a similar percentage of meat-reducers (i.e., vegetarians, vegans, pescetarians, and flexitarians/reducetarians) — our sample at 58% versus the other at 61% (India Karuna Collaborative, 2026). In other words, young adults in India are plant-forward eaters.

Most remarkably, when asked their likelihood that they would follow a vegan diet within the next year, 50% of Gen Z participants said they likely would, and 53% said the same about their parents. Indeed, another survey (based on 1,000 adults) found willingness to go vegan was highest in the 18- to 24-year-old group, and that animal rights as a motivation to go vegan was highest among this age group (59%) as well (Sarma & Singh, 2023). The same study also found that 18- to 24-year-olds were less likely to believe that vegans are “elitist people promoting an impractical lifestyle” compared to older adults (48% versus 59%). Taken together, this suggests that Gen Z Indians are willing to change and don’t view veganism as elitist, which is aligned with the pattern of positive attitudes towards animal and environmental issues among Gen Z in other countries (Faunalytics, 2025).

Nonetheless, an older survey found that 18- to 24-year-olds were less likely to hold pro-animal beliefs and attitudes than older adults in India (Faunalytics, 2018). Furthermore, a landscape review noted that meat-eating is rising among Indian youth, especially for those who live away from home (Sarma & Hari, 2023). This may suggest that dietary choices for Gen Z Indians are contextual: our study, which focused on young adults who still live at home, found them to be pro-vegan, while previous studies may have captured young adults who lived more independently. In other words, animal advocates should note that plant-based barriers and intentions to go vegan likely differ between Gen Z Indians who live with their parents versus those who don’t.

The Dairy-Identity Paradox

Just because half of Gen Z participants were willing to go vegan doesn’t mean it’s easy for them. Indeed, we surveyed participants on 30 different barriers to plant-based eating. The top five barriers were needing more information about vegan diets (59%), viewing dairy as a core part of one’s cultural identity (54%), having to go food shopping too often (53%), being concerned with one’s overall health (52%), and having limited options when eating out (52%). Interestingly, despite dairy’s association with culture being a top barrier, the least common barrier was being worried about family members perceiving veganism as abandoning their culture (37%).

While four out of the five most common barriers can be addressed by education and outreach, such as providing Gen Z Indians with more information on how to eat vegan and stay healthy, and where to shop and dine out, the dairy-cultural barrier warrants special consideration.

Dairy in India has a special status due to Hindu mythology, which views the cow as a mother figure, and the cooperative movement, which helped ensure fair payment to dairy producers and addressed issues of malnutrition (Sarma & Hari, 2023). The cooperative business model, which goes back to the 1940s, is also what led to India being a top dairy producer worldwide. Indeed, the founding dairy cooperative, Amul, has a long history in India — their advertisements are seen as part of a “common collective memory” (Sarma & Hari, 2023). As such, dairy is viewed as a symbol for progress and national identity in India.

Indeed, many animal advocacy campaigns in India have relied on moral shock, by contrasting the harsh reality of what happens to dairy cows against their sacred symbolism, to rebut the dairy industry’s narrative (Sarma et al., 2023). As well, more Indians find standard dairy practices unacceptable compared to meat and poultry practices (45% versus 34%), with 18- to 24-year-olds showing the most disapproval for dairy practices (49%: Sarma & Singh, 2023).

Our data suggests that while there is an openness to plant-based eating among Gen Z Indians, there is a deep-seated cultural connection to traditional food markers like milk, ghee, and paneer. Animal advocates may therefore consider re-branding plant-based dairy alternatives as a type of “traditional” protein instead of “dairy-free,” in addition to exposing the harsh reality of the dairy industry on farmed animal welfare.

Notably, 54% of our participants regularly or occasionally ate plant-based ghee, 53% consumed plant-based yogurt, 52% consumed plant-based milk, and 50% consumed plant-based cheese. Another survey also found that 67% of Indian adults have heard about plant-based milk substitutes — increasing to 77% when just considering 25- to 30-year-olds (Sarma & Singh, 2023). Furthermore, India also ranks as the fifth-leading country for alternative animal product companies (Bryant Research, 2025). Together, this suggests that there is an existing market in India for plant-based dairy products, especially among Gen Z consumers. They just need to be assured that plant-based dairy alternatives are aligned with their cultural identity.

Gen Z Consumers Most Open To Change

Using more than 45 variables — from household dynamics, to food choice motivations, to plant-based barriers — we identified three segments of Gen Z Indian consumers, from the least to most motivated and influential.

Starting with indifferent consumers, who made up almost half our sample, these are the hardest individuals to reach. This group had the least control over household food decisions, were the least susceptible to peer pressure regarding one’s diet, were the least concerned about animal welfare, environmental, health, and other motives when choosing what to eat, and had the lowest intention to go vegan. Their dietary behavior may therefore be primarily driven by established habits rather than strong perceived constraints or motivations.

Next are the constrained consumers, 33% of our sample, who want to change (e.g., scoring higher than average versus indifferent consumers for likelihood to go vegan), and who demonstrate high household influence, but reported the most barriers to switching to a plant-based diet. They also tended to disagree the most with their families about food choices and had the most difficulty talking about food with their family, although they scored the highest for conflict resolution. This group is also characterized by more men and right-wing individuals than the other segments.

Lastly, the game-changers, 22% of our sample, are the most promising targets for vegan outreach. These individuals showed the highest intention for themselves and their parents to go vegan in the next year, were the most motivated (especially concerning the motives of taste, health, and animal welfare and environmental protection), had the fewest barriers to plant-based eating, and showed high household influence.

However, game-changers require the right tools to transition, as they scored the highest, on average, for plant-based enablers, especially capability and motivation. This means, for example, that they need information on how to prepare nutritious plant-based meals and they need to feel that eating plant-based meals is good for them.

Likewise, game-changers scored just as high as constrained consumers for social pressure. Their high susceptibility to social pressure suggests that for them, veganism may be a status or identity marker, especially considering this group was the highest income group, in addition to being predominantly General Category — a caste group generally perceived as “higher” status. For marketing purposes, it’s worth noting this group had more women than the other two groups.

A previous survey also found that urban, high-income adults in India were more likely to buy cultured and plant-based meat versus consumers in the United States (Bryant et al., 2019). However, we caution against framing plant-based eating as an elitist lifestyle as a way to appeal to high-income Gen Z Indians. Such messaging tactics will only hinder the animal advocacy movement in India, as vegetarianism — and, by default, veganism — is perceived as an “upper”-caste behavior and thus has regressive, rather than progressive, connotations (Sarma & Hari, 2023).

Gen Z’s Influence In The Multi-Generational Kitchen

Gen Z participants showed a moderate influence in their household, with 40% responsible for grocery shopping and nearly half reporting high or total control over what food is bought. However, their mothers play a larger role in meal-planning and cooking. Thus, while Gen Z can bring plant-based ingredients into their homes, the mother needs to be on board with incorporating plant-based items into the family meals.

Indeed, health and dietary preferences were the most common reason for household food disagreements (selected by 52% of participants), even though only 26% of participants had frequent disagreements. As well, on average, health and taste scored the highest out of all food motivations, and health experts and family scored the highest, on average, regarding social pressure. This suggests that Gen Z Indians tend to be motivated by health, which may clash with family values if their family disagrees. Even if Gen Z Indians are willing to buy plant-based products, they may lack the culinary skills or “kitchen permission” to transform them into meals that satisfy the family.

Nonetheless, 59% of Gen Z participants found it “very” or “somewhat” easy to discuss food choices with their family, and 60% resolved family food conflicts. Animal advocacy groups can use this harmonious family dynamic to their advantage by equipping Gen Z with dialogue strategies to help move their household towards plant-based eating.

Overall, our study highlights that the adoption of veganism among Gen Z Indians living at home is strongly affected by social and cultural factors. With half of the sample willing to transition, the challenge lies in providing game-changers and constrained consumers with the right tools to overcome logistical and cultural barriers. Advocacy must move beyond moral shock to provide accessible plant-based alternatives that fit seamlessly into the household grocery bag. By focusing on health, taste, and collaborative family cooking, we can help ensure that plant-based alternatives and vegan recipes are a natural fit within Indian culture.