Vegan Practically

A while back a few people sent me an article from the New York Times about meat “making a comeback.” To believe that you need to believe it went anywhere. The narrative reminds me so much of when people start wringing their hands about “unqualified workforces” because suddenly there is a small percentage of people who aren’t non-disabled white men. These people are taking over! Something unfair must be going on! Hurry up, let’s fire these people and put incompetent white non-disabled cis-guys into positions of power for which they have no experience or knowledge.

This familiar way of framing backlash, as if new ideas that are starting to gain some traction have successfully unseated well-entrenched relations of power and domination, has now brought us the “meat-revival” discussion.

The article starts as follows: “Meat’s reputation has taken a pounding over the last few years. Blamed for poor health, implicated in climate change and attacked for cruelty to animals, it played the villain while plant-based burgers, grain bowls and four-star vegan dishes took their star turn.

“No more. Meat has muscled its way back to the center of the plate.”

The article talks about meat “hitting a wall” five years ago, as plant-based alternatives caught on and people started to follow through on concerns about greenhouse gas emissions. For example, “Editors at the recipe website Epicurious announced in 2021 that beef would be banished from all future content, citing its contribution to greenhouse-gas emissions.” By 2022, the average American was eating “only” 264 pounds of meat per year (a 10 pound drop over two years).

It goes on to report record sales of beef, pork, lamb, and poultry in the US last year, topping $104.6 billion.

Part of this is pushback against what is seen as a liberal green agenda. The MAHA movement — Make American Healthy Again — touts beef tallow as a reaction against highly processed foods. Some people follow a diet that is almost exclusively meat-based, with no fruits, vegetables, grains or nuts. And again we hear the popular myth that meat is the most effective way to get protein, and that all other protein is inferior.

But singing the praises of meat doesn’t change some basic facts:

• Beef is a resource-intensive agricultural product that generates enormous amounts of greenhouse gases (specifically, methane).
• Part of the GHG impact is a result also of land use changes, whereby methane-producing animals take the place of forests and other vegetation that have a positive impact on climate because of their carbon stores.
• Plant-based protein is good for human health and muscle growth.
• Beef is high in cholesterol and saturated fat, and even if it can be part of balanced diet (though not cruelty-free or sustainable), the meat revivalist idea that people should focus exclusively on red meat is not nutritionally adequate.
• Beef production is a cruel industry that exploits and tortures sentient beings who experience lives of misery and suffering. Eating beef contributes to that suffering, since 99% of the beef consumed world-wide comes from factory farms. The idea that beef has been “unfairly vilified” is simply wishful thinking. It would be great if that were true.

But the main point here is what I said at the beginning. Meat is not “back” because it never went anywhere. If 264 pounds of meat per year is considered a notable decrease, as it was in 2022, meat is still as mainstream as ever.

And that’s concerning on its own. No comeback narrative needed.