The Woke War Against Meat

While many Americans celebrated the Fourth of July with fireworks and a family barbecue, some would prefer that we declare independence from our favorite holiday entrees: hamburgers and hotdogs. As many outlets have noted, Hollywood elites, liberal billionaires, and even the United Nations want to “save the planet” by ridding the American diet of meat.

Here in the heartland, we might laugh at this notion. Coastal elites and European leaders often suggest outrageous and impractical ideas. However, data shows that these thoughts have trickled down into our general population. While the vast majority of Americans still eat meat, data shows that many Americans are choosing to eat less meat and those who do avoid it are often driven by political concerns, rather than health considerations.

USDA data shows that Americans eat about a third less red meat than what we consumed 50 years ago. Plus, a Tulane study found that just 12 percent of Americans eat half of all beef that is consumed in America today.

Gallup research shows that the largest factor cited by individuals avoiding meat is still health concerns. However, the second largest factor, referenced by 7 in 10 Americans who avoid meat, cite environmental concerns. 

Despite the fact that only 1 percent of Americans report being vegan and only 4 percent report being vegetarian, our markets have seen an explosion of meat-free restaurants, menu items, and choices at our grocery stores. While there certainly is a legitimate market for many of these items, the discrepancy between the number of consumers who identify with the meatless lifestyle and the number of Americans who still want their meat, should make reasonable Americans question whether these market trends are a response to consumer demands or a political agenda.

Many might suggest that this phenomenon can be explained due to Americans’ increasing health concerns with meat. It is true that many of our large health institutions link meat to a number of health concerns.

I am not a doctor, so I will make no health recommendations. However, I believe curious Americans, regardless of their beliefs concerning meat, should be asking two key questions.

First, if meat – specifically beef – is so bad for our health, has its decline in our diet coincided with increased health outcomes? The data at a population level would clearly indicate the answer is “no.”

For example, Americans consumed far more red meat per capita in previous decades, reaching its height of consumption in the 1970s and 80s. Yet, our population’s health problems have skyrocketed since then. Obesity rates have doubled since 1980 – the CDC reports that 3 out of 4 American adults are overweight and more than 40 percent are obese. Despite less red meat consumption per capita, the American Heart Association still predicts that 61 percent of Americans will suffer from some form of cardiovascular disease by 2050. Furthermore, 12 percent of Americans have been diagnosed with diabetes according to the CDC, with another 23 percent of adults predicted to be undiagnosed with diabetes.

You don’t need to have a medical degree to understand a simple reality: our red meat consumption has significantly declined, but our health outcomes have dramatically declined as well. That is just a fact.

I don’t even need to argue the benefits of meat to clearly show that, at the very least, our health problems as Americans are influenced by many other factors.

Second, if our health outcomes have experienced no visible improvement during our shift away from beef, then why are our institutions pushing the change onto our markets? While many likely have genuine convictions about avoiding meat and the benefits of plant-based foods, we cannot rule out old-fashioned money and politics as at least playing a role in the rise of this meatless movement.

The vegan market is a booming industry. Bloomberg projects that the plant-based food market will hit $162 billion over the next decade. Investors see an opportunity within a rising market. Retailers and producers will certainly follow the money.

But in addition to the economic factors, we can’t ignore the politics. The Left has largely declared war on meat.

Many outlets have reported that elites like Bill Gates have suggested possibly changing our diet from meat to things like bugs. In fact, the Gates Foundation has put their money where their mouth is, investing real dollars in the development of bug-based protein alternatives. Global elitist planners see technology, like plant-based food production, not only as a source of economic opportunity, but as a manner of societal management. The hamburgers and hot dogs at our family barbecue just get in the way of their utopia.

In addition, there is an inconvenient coincidence that must be stated: meat has historically been a sustainable resource. Highly processed foods, like advanced plant-based proteins, are reliant on a much more complex system. You can’t just raise it or hunt it. These products must be produced – often times in a lab.

It is clear which diet could produce a society more dependent on large institutions, like government.  

Furthermore, it is evident that the meatless agenda has been added to the woke platform. For example, a few years ago The New York Times ran an opinion column practically equating meat consumption with racial injustice. And as if the Left hasn’t divided Americans enough, the Times has also pointed out that “vegans are responsible for 75 percent less in greenhouse gases than meat-eaters.” It is not surprising that animal rights activist groups claim the “future of food is vegan,” but now average Americans are expected to end our selfish carbon emission production by putting down our hamburger to prevent climate change.

Americans are smart of enough to make their own personal decisions about their diet. However, regardless of your personal beliefs about the dangers or benefits of meat, I suggest all Americans be aware of the agenda being pushed within our institutions. Given the large investments in our media and our markets to create distrust of meat and to produce non-meat alternatives – and the relatively limited effect it has had on American diet habits when compared to the size of those efforts – it is logical to expect some to start advocating for harsher policies within our public square, either by further limiting, taxing, or regulating production to shrink the supply of “undesirable” foods or by using the same methods to reduce consumption.

Those measures should concern every American, regardless of their diet.