Food... the other white meat

Remember those commercials for pork that were all over the TV in... what? The
90's? And the beef commercials, too, which used the heartily awesome music of
Aaron Copland's "Rodeo" (a cowboy ballet)-- do you know, apparently 88% of
the population immediately think "Beef: It's what's for dinner" when they hear
Rodeo! 88%!

Googling these famous meat campaigns, I just discovered that Beef has not
finished selling itself. The new campaign for 2008 will be "Discover the Power of
Protein in the Land of Lean Beef". Honestly, I don't know why anybody wants to
spend money advertising meat to a nation whose citizens, on average, already
eat half a pound of it a day. Eat more meat? Ugh. I don't even want to think
about it.

But I have been thinking about it. Thanks to the popularity of books like Michael
Pollan's "The Omnivore's Dilemma" and more recent "In Defense of Food", and
articles like "Rethinking the Meat Guzzler" from the NYTimes,
I'm realizing that our pace of meat consumption is bad for more than just our bodies.

I encourage everyone to read the article from the Times, but if you can't, here
are three short paragraphs from the end that I thought really drove the point
home about the enormous amount of meat consumed in the US and other
countries:

"If price spikes don’t change eating habits, perhaps the combination of
deforestation, pollution, climate change, starvation, heart disease and animal
cruelty will gradually encourage the simple daily act of eating more plants and
fewer animals.

Mr. Rosegrant of the food policy research institute says he foresees “a stronger
public relations campaign in the reduction of meat consumption — one like that
around cigarettes — emphasizing personal health, compassion for animals, and
doing good for the poor and the planet.”

It wouldn’t surprise Professor Eshel if all of this had a real impact. “The good of
people’s bodies and the good of the planet are more or less perfectly aligned,”
he said."

I am not a vegetarian-- I eat meat. Maybe once a week. Sometimes more,
depending on what my body needs. I am not inclined to give up meat. But
I am inclined to put my money where my mouth is-- on responsibly raised
foods! It's not just for hippies anymore.

And when are we going to see a campaign for kale? How about the slogan "I'll
bet you $50 you haven't eaten enough vegetables today"?

Posted by jvoris at January 28, 2008 11:08 AM