The vegetarian diet is meat-free, and may or may not contain dairy products and eggs, and may
be ovolactovegetarian, lactovegetarian, egg vegetarian or strict vegetarian, and the vegan diet
excludes any food of animal origin, and these diets have their variations and peculiarities, in
addition to multiple motivating factors of adherence and, in parallel, have their difficulties and
challenges, as it is an exception and not a rule to the food pattern of contemporary society, and
is even on the rise. In this context, this paper, through an integrative literature review, aims to
identify and discuss the main motivating factors and challenges faced by people who have
adopted vegetarianism and veganism, thus proposing a reflection on the influence of these
eating habits in society, making it possible to list issues that are little addressed in scientific
literature, and in the academic field today, in addition to providing the breakdown of stereotypes
to these individuals, and consequently broaden debates for future studies on the legitimation of
animal rights and protectionist and anti-speciesist laws. The search for data in the databases
Virtual Health Library (VHL), Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO), PubMed, and
Google Scholar was carried out in the last ten years. The descriptors were "(vegetarian* OR
vegan*) AND (motives OR motivations OR motivational factors OR motivating factors)" OR
"(vegetarian* OR vegan*) AND (difficulties OR challenges)", as well as their English language
equivalents. The main motivating factors are concern for animal welfare, environmental
preservation, health issues and religion. The difficulties and challenges faced are social
coexistence, prejudice and ridicule, and lack of access to food options in public places.
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