The Nutrition Transition, Stage 5
Why do we eat meat? At the end of the day, despite the many complex reasons rooted in evolution, history, and culture, the most basic answer would be: because we can. We are omnivores, and meat is food—a food loaded with amino acids, which satisfy our protein hunger, and fat, which provides us with energy. For millennia, meat kept us fed. It helped us grow our big brains and move out of Africa. In a way, it made us human.
Yet meat is no longer as good for us as it used to be. With abundant plant-based foods, we, in the developed world, don’t actually need animal flesh for its nutrients. What’s more, numerous studies show that meat consumption may lead to cancer, diabetes, and heart disease. We also don’t have enough planet to feed all humans the Western, carnivorous diets they’d prefer, given the chance. If we don’t reduce our meat consumption significantly, we are far more likely to face global warming, water shortages, and pollution.
It’s time for the next and final stage of nutrition transition—behavioral change. It’s time to switch from meat toward a diet based on vegetables, grains, fruits, and legumes, such as beans and lentils. It may seem daunting, but we’ve done things like this in the past. Several times before, when Earth’s climate changed, our ancestors adjusted their eating habits. A few million years ago Purgatorius took advantage of the new wealth of fruits. Later, when the climate cooled and plant foods became harder to find, early hominins started to eat meat. When in India consuming cows became uneconomical, they made it taboo. When there was not enough land to grow animal protein in medieval Japan, their rulers banned many meats.
We may not need to prohibit carnivorous diets, but as the climate and economy change once again, so should our eating habits. It won’t be easy, of course. Meat is not just a pleasure to the taste buds but also a symbol-laden element of our culture. It stands for wealth, for masculinity, and for power over the poor and over nature. For many in the developing world, it symbolizes modernity, progress, and a decisive break with traditional, hierarchical society.
To enter the final, fifth stage of the nutrition transition, we should first become aware of meat’s many meanings—only then can the hooks be released one by one. The taste of meat can be replaced by products containing meat’s potent mixture of umami, fat, and the aromas created by the Maillard reaction. Protein hunger can be satisfied with lentils, beans, and even peanut butter sandwiches. Government policies can be reversed, with subsidies diverted and a meat tax introduced. Ag-gag laws and food disparagement laws can be changed. We can stop propagating protein myths and make meat replacements widely available, so they can turn into a habit themselves. By becoming aware of our eating scripts (summer evening equals grilling equals beef burgers), we can choose to change them. We can take advantage of our psychological wiring and create positive associations of vegetarian meals by pairing them with foods we already love (a veggie dinner followed by ice cream) and by eating them at fun, social occasions. We should emphasize that plant-based diets are convenient and economical and not just healthy, because that’s what drives people’s buying choices. We should try to change the image of a vegetarian diet by showing athletic, masculine men eating a plant-based diet, emphasizing that “veg” can make you strong and beautiful. That is, after all, how meat has been sold to us for years.
Don’t get me wrong: I’m not saying we should all turn vegetarian tomorrow. Even though I do believe that in the future humanity will eat mostly plant-based foods, I also believe that pushing for dietary purity is not the way to go, and it may actually backfire—as it has a few times in the past. Instead, we should reward cutting down meat consumption—whether we call it reducetarianism, flexitarianism, or stage five-ism and whether we cut down by 5 percent or 99 percent. Strict vegetarians and vegans should stop criticizing vegetarians who sometimes secretly eat meat. After all, compared to the Western average, they likely did manage to change their diets substantially. Building barricades between vegetarians and meat eaters didn’t work in the past, and there is no reason why it should now. In a similar vein, instead of always fighting the meat industry as evil incarnate, it may sometimes make sense to work with it—the way Temple Grandin does or the way the Vegetarian Butcher does, who offers his products in conventional meat shops. If your goal is to improve your health, limit animal suffering, and increase our chances to combat climate change, it may actually be better to eat a bit of meat now and then and a lot of plant foods, rather than be a strict lacto-ovo vegetarian on a diet loaded with cheese, milk, and eggs. It’s just a matter of adding the numbers. If you are an ethical vegetarian, think about it: Which saves more lives—one person stopping eating meat altogether or millions cutting out just one meat-based meal a month? The same goes for meeting the climate-change goals, of course. Yes, it would be better if millions went vegetarian, but this won’t happen overnight. The meat hooks are far too strong for that.
What’s important is to be aware of factors that drive our food choices, instead of blindly following our routines, our culture, and advertising. If we are to progress to the fifth stage of the nutrition transition, that, I believe, is the first step.