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• Research objectives and questionsFaced with the demands of sustainability, which are leading to recommendations to reduce meat consumption, French chefs are being asked to rethink their cuisine, given how deeply rooted meat is in their culinary tradition. The aim of this study is to explore chefs’ professional representations and identities in relation to traditional French cuisine, meat-based cuisine, and meatless cuisine.• Methodology29 semi-directive interviews were conducted with chefs from the food service sector and a thematic analysis of the corpus was carried out.• ResultsThe results show that chefs continue to enjoy cooking with meat and are aware of the environmental impact of its consumption. However, they differ in their representations of meatless cooking, which some see as a source of new creative practices, while others see it as an additional burden. Chefs differ in the identities they activate in addition to their chef identity, to support their culinary practices.• Implications for marketing decisionThis research suggests at least three ways to support chefs’ practices as they move away from meat-based cuisine and towards more plant-based cuisine.• OriginalityThis research contributes to the fields of study on professional representations and multiple identities and to the thematic area of the place of meat in the sustainable food transition, by focusing on an influential professional stakeholder, the chef.