# Consumer Acceptance of Cultured Meat: An Updated Review (2018-2020)
## 4 Consumer Acceptance
### Demographic Predictors  
The quantitative data in this review provides a more detailed look at the groups to whom cultured meat will be most appealing. Some of these trends have been observed already in our previous review [12], whilst others are new and others are unclear. Age.Previous research has indicated that cultured meat would likely be more appealing to younger people than older people [12; 39; 41], and new data appears to confirm this [15; 28; 31; 33; 35]. [PERSON] and [PERSON] [37] observed that older people tended to think about cultured meat in terms of the implied societal transition, whereas younger people tended to think about it in terms of their own consumption. Gender.The previous review concluded that men tend to be more accepting of cultured meat than women [12; 39; 41], and this is confirmed by new data [15; 23; 26; 33; 35]. One notable exception to this trend is the Chinese female participants in [PERSON] et al. [21], who reported a higher purchase intent than their male counterparts. It is possible that this was due to a specific interpretation of the likelihood of purchasing (for example, if women generally purchase food) since other research in China has found the gender trend in China to be the same as elsewhere, with men more likely to want to consume cultured meat [33]. Diet and meat consumption.It was observed in our previous review that cultured meat tends to be more appealing to meat-eaters compared to vegetarians [12; 41], and this is now well-validated [15; 20; 28; 30]. Moreover, cultured meat seems to be more appealing to those who are higher in meat attachment [21; 22], indicating that it may be the future protein of choice for the most committed carnivores. Political orientation.Previous data had indicated that more left-wing/liberal people tended to be more accepting of cultured meat than more right-wing/conservative people [12; 41], and again this is reflected in more recent analyses [21; 32]. It is likely that this reflects increased concerns on the political left with related issues such as animal welfare and environmental protection. This tends to be related to other predictors of acceptance such as being younger and living in urban centers. Urbanness.Although there was some indication in the previous literature that cultured meat was more appealing to those in urban centers [12; 46], this had yet to be tested robustly. [PERSON] and [PERSON] [35] set out to test this difference in comparisons of young and old groups from rural or urban areas of Ireland. They found that participants in urban areas were more likely to say they would try cultured meat, and that undermining Irish farming communities was one of the major issues participants were concerned with. Education.Our previous review found one study which identified higher education as a predictor of cultured meat acceptance [12; 39]. Recent data has tended to find support for the view that cultured meat is more appealing to more educated consumers [25; 28; 31; 33]. Socioeconomic status.There has been some speculation about the impact of cultured meat on consumer inequality [47]. Previous data had indicated that cultured meat could be more appealing to low income consumers in the US [41], although some New Zealand data suggested a different pattern [46]. A more recent study found that cultured meat tends to be more appealing to higher income consumers in India [21], meaning that the balance of data is unclear on this point. [PERSON] et al. [25] observed that meat alternatives were more readily accepted in higher income countries, and speculate that those in lower income countries attach status to meat consumption to a greater extent. Familiarity.Our previous review identified familiarity as a possible predictor of cultured meat acceptance, though we noted that this was yet to be tested statistically [12; 41]. Recent studies further fortify this observation [21]. [PERSON] [36] reports focus group participants commenting that a lack of knowledge about cultured meat was a barrier for them, whilst [PERSON] et al.