2023-12-14 07:47:36
The reduction in meat consumption in most developed countries, observed for more than twenty years, undeniably constitutes a completely unprecedented historical phenomenon.
A 2016 study reveals that one in three Britons have reduced their meat consumption, women (34%) much more than men (23%), older people (39% among those aged 65 to 79) more than young people (19% among 18 to 24 year olds).
It is primarily the concern for one’s health (59%) that leads to reducing meat consumption, before its cost (39%) and much more than animal suffering (20%).
If the consumption of red meat is reduced, that of poultry and pork increases
Similar observations can be made in France: meat consumption increased continuously between 1960 and 1980, then experienced a period of stabilization during the 1980s before decreasing. But it is difficult to generalize because if the consumption of red meat is reduced, that of poultry and pork is increasing.
The 2020 health crisis and lockdowns reduced overall demand for meat (notably due to the closure of restaurants and canteens), but increased household purchases, those of chicken meat even increased significantly.
Vegetarianism is progressing variably, with Italy and Germany having more vegetarians (6.7% of their population) than other European countries with the exception of the United Kingdom where the proportion reaches 14%.
Here too, it is primarily the search for better nutrition which leads to the prohibition of meat much more than concern for animals.
The reduction in meat consumption concerns the wealthiest classes in the richest countries
In Europe, 9% of new food products marketed are without ingredients of animal origin, or nearly one in ten new food products launched in 2018, the proportion was only 5% in 2015; but this figure is much higher in the United Kingdom since it is 16% in 2018 compared to 8% in 2015.
The market could, however, have reached a certain saturation since in Germany the marketing of new food products without ingredients of animal origin fell to reach 13% in 2018 after peaking at 15% in 2015.
However, it is appropriate to put these movements into perspective not only from a chronological point of view, but also geographically and socially: because the reduction in meat consumption is far from being observable everywhere and only concerns the richest and more the wealthiest classes of these countries.
The differences are considerable: the annual average of meat consumption in the world increased from around 20 kg in 1961 to around 43 kg in 2014 with extremes ranging from 146 kg in the United States (including 56 kg of chicken, 37 kg of beef, 30 kg of pork and 22 kg of aquatic animals) to 5.8 kg in Ethiopia (mainly beef and some mutton).
According to the OECD and the FAO, global consumption of meat proteins will have increased by 14% in 2030
There is also another equally unavoidable fact: the number of animals intended to be eaten has increased considerably since the end of the Second World War, as has the number of species subjected to domestication mechanisms.
No stop to this growth is envisaged since experts from the OECD and the FAO estimate that global consumption of meat proteins will have increased by 14% in 2030 compared to today, which they mainly attribute to rising standards of living and population growth.
The increase in milk production should be nearly 17% over the same period, that of aquatic production (fishing of wild or farmed animals) should be 12.8%.
All studies show the sociological complexity of meat consumption. Thus, we can draw two groups in Switzerland, the first consuming more meat (and more red meat) than the second.
The first is made up mainly of men, often middle-aged, with a lower level of education than the national average, living in German-speaking or French-speaking regions, more smokers, more often overweight or obese, consuming alcohol daily. alcohol and weakly physically active; the second group is much more feminine, often younger or older, more educated, citizen residing in Italian Switzerland or foreigner, ex‐smokers or non‐smokers, having a normal or insufficient body weight, consuming less than once a day alcohol and often physically active.
A vegetarian humanity, a fantasy of the rich
We have already highlighted the complexity of relationships with meat depending on gender, income level or spiritual convictions: we never observe a simple dichotomy, particularly within rich Western societies, between those who consume meat and those who avoid it, even more rarely, proscribe it.
These are trends and not absolute determinisms and, since eating meat responds to numerous cultural and psychological factors, it is normal that prohibiting its consumption is very difficult to characterize.
And this is why the debates on the future of artificial meat or on humanity becoming vegetarian seem, until now, to be a fantasy of the rich, because the consumption of animals on a global scale has never been so important and it is, today as throughout human history, profoundly unequal.
Meat has always been, in all cultures, a social marker of an individual’s success: even today, exceptional meals in China are almost exclusively composed of meat, a memory of a time when only the rich could consume it; In the West, holiday dinners are most often organized around animals (foie gras, salmon, turkey, capon, game, oysters and seafood, etc.) and rarely around plants…
This article was produced by The Conversation and hosted by 20 Minutes.
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