Category Archives: Vegetarianism

In an important article on beef festivals, Balmurli Natarajan called for reframing beef festivals as antagonistic moments that challenge the degradation of outcaste labour and articulate an anti-caste identity heralding a politics of multiculturalism against caste. Sacred Cows and Chicken Manchurian by James Staples cautions us against such an approach. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in coastal Andhra Pradesh, this book moves away from the popular and simplistic binary of cow protectionists versus pro-beef Dalit activists to explore the overlooked ambivalences that exist between these two poles. This book pursues and makes a case for in-depth ethnographic research on dietary politics and processes. It adds nuance to existing accounts on the politics of consuming meat and non-meat diets in contemporary India.

James StaplesSacred Cows and Chicken Manchurian: The Everyday Politics of Eating Meat in IndiaUniversity of Washington Press (November 2020)

Staples explores the meanings attributed to food as a continually changing process and not merely influenced by political ideologies (for example, the BJP), but also shaped through changing technologies of producing and processing meat, environmental and health concerns, class position and gender. Theoretically, this book complements scholarship that makes a critical contribution to the anthropology of food beyond structural Marxism and Louis Dumonts domineering influence on food studies in India.

Chapter One is a brief engagement with history (differential histories of meat-eating in India), where cattle in Vedic texts and manipulation of bovine history in colonial times are discussed together to understand the bovine politics in post-Independence India. The Vedic past was recast continually in colonial times for nationalist politics and now this manipulation of bovine history (where beef eating and cow protectionism are reanimated), continues in post-Independence India with the clear political purpose of othering Muslims, Christians and Dalits.

Chapter Two engages with the complexity of food preferences and ensuing changes in coastal Andhra. The dichotomy of vegetarian and non-vegetarian means little in the peoples lives as vegetarian diet dominates in most peoples lives and the symbolic is to a large extent preconfigured by material (p. 54). This chapter maps dietary changes and how economic liberalisation has changed the Andhra cuisine and a critique of modernity too is now pushed through, speaking of a past where food was authentic. Though eating outside has increased, this change is however gendered as eating out is still not considered respectable for women.

Chapter Three and Four explore the meaning of beef consumption in the context of polarised binaries of those who celebrate beef consumption and those who herald cow protection. The making of chicken as respectable meat and consumption of beef by upper-caste Hindus, along with the export of beef has led to higher prices of beef. Assumptions like love for cattle as the sole preserve of upper castes is challenged here to suggest that a kinship type relationship exists between beef-eating Dalits and their buffaloes. Whereas the upper-caste owner of cattle resorts to not knowing as a way of dealing with the sale of their cattle to butchers and cattle traders (p. 93). The bovine nexus and the multiple and contradictory meanings of bovine and cattle meat are engaged with here to argue that there is no radical distinction between the preference of high-caste Hindu cattle owners and beef-eating Christians, Dalits and Muslims vigilante action against cow slaughter is more about making Muslims, Dalits and Christians as the Other (p. 101). Chapter Four further engages with falsifying the distinction between beef and other meats and suggests that the distinction to be far more complex as food choices are shaped by class, education, age, family position and locality.

Representative image of cows. Photo: Reuters

Chapter Five on the changes in meat-eating practices in the last three decades locates the rise of chicken at the heart of this change. While eating beef could invite prejudice, chicken is increasingly considered sanitised meat. The chicken revolution (production and consumption of broiler chicken) and the role played by markets and other non-political factors are also aided by Hindutva groups in the promotion of chicken over beef. From being a source of suspicion, broiler has turned most acceptable non-vegetarian food for vegetarians and meat-eaters alike. Hindutva groups occasionally appropriate the argument of environmental distress caused by mass poultry production for political gains turning the Hindu nationalist project into an environmental project while meat-eating groups simultaneously work out newer ways of framing their food habits.

Chapter Six, titled From Caste to Class in Food, suggests that caste alone may be inadequate to explain the on-the-ground social distinctions and highlights the complex social effects of globalisation. While beef can seem a cosmopolitan diet if it is consumed by upper castes and privileged groups, Staples suggests that cosmopolitan sophistication and caste are no longer adequate to explain the ongoing realities of social distinction as dignity is increasingly determined by cultural capital:

Food, then, because of its relative accessibilitycompared to the costlier trappings of a middle-class life, from fridges to motorcycleswas a particularly important medium through which identities beyond caste could be performed and negotiated. (p. 155)

That Kotaiah (an upper-caste) eats beef as his new found cosmopolitan identity and Prakash avoids beef for respectability as an untouchable (Mala) and Soloman Raju though an untouchable on the other hand had economic status which no longer needed to concern himself with what high-caste Hindus thought of him. While understanding class is important to decipher the status struggles and social differentiationcaste continues to remain of central importance in understanding Indian food ways (p. 161).

The concluding chapter recapitulates the continued making and remaking of the sacred cow since anti-colonial nationalist struggles and contemporary militant nationalism in neo-liberal times (nationalism) as a way of resisting the Other (Muslims, Christians and Dalits) and the liberal environmentalists support to the hegemony of vegetarianism and bovine inviolability. It summarises how ethnography brings nuance and paints an intricate picture to challenge the hegemonic view that the beef industry is confined to a non-Hindu other to unravel high caste complicity in beef business, the complexities of human-cattle relationships, the complicated eating habits of actual people beyond distinctions of vegetarian and non-vegetarian and beef and non-beef.

Leaves us wanting more

Staples calls for complicating these binaries, for looking at the symbolic and the material together and avoiding an understanding of culture as static (both Dalit and Hindutva activists do this, according to Staples). Ethnography thus helps us to look at cultural or ontological claims as contested, shifting, and as politically motivated (p.176). While Staples brings nuance to the study of food, the broader picture he presents on shifting dietary preferences and associated collective identities leaves us wanting for more.

Though Staples calls for looking at the material and the symbolic together, he partly ends up privileging the material over the symbolic and cultural. His attempt becomes one that passionately seeks to bypass Sanskritisation (Srinivas) and Dumont (essentialising of Indian culture). For instance, Staples suggests that for militant vegetarians, eating meat especially beef stood for negative otherness (p. 120, emphasis added). How does one distinguish militant vegetarians from non-militant vegetarians or militant and non-militant non-vegetarian Hindus? What social currents tie them together or separate them? Does Hinduism under Hindutva take a newer inclusive form of social cohesion so as to weave nationalism, vegetarianism and non-beef non-vegetarianism together?

Representative image of a pure veg restaurant. Photo: Joegoauk Goa/Flickr CC BY SA 2.0

A recent survey by Pew Research Center may have some answers. It reports that nearly two-thirds of Hindus (64%) say it is very important to be a Hindu to be truly Indian. In addition, 72% of Hindus surveyed across the country say that a person who eats beef cannot be a Hindu. One cannot be sure if such a vast majority can be termed as militant vegetarians/Hindus.

While Staples largely attributes the chicken revolution to the decline of beef, Ferry (2020) using quantitative methods in a similar exercise maintains that the social structure remains stable in India over time and that we need to move beyond linear expectations drawn from economic development to understand local cultural preferences (chicken and vegetarianism). Local is not framed here as stagnant but resilient and for Ferry therefore, the politics around the decline of beef consumption in India (especially amongst the Scheduled Castes) indeed points to the making of a Hindu Orthopraxis and the simultaneous Othering of Muslims. How do we make these two approaches and methods speak to each other?

Staples draws convincing parallels with other states in North India, but this also undermines the local non-cow-belt nature of coastal Andhra. His nuanced local approach also ignores Kancha Ilaiahs book Buffalo Nationalism and Ambedkar, though cited, appears not as a sociologist or anthropologist but as a leader of Dalit Buddhist movement during independence struggle (p. 40). These minor quibbles aside, Sacred Cows and Chicken Manchurian is essential reading on food politics in South India and it will encourage more attention and research on sociology-anthropology of food in South Asia.

Suryakant Waghmore is a public sociologist. He loves beef curry and rice as much as rajma chawal.

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Book Review: Moving Away From the Popular and Simplistic Narratives About Beef - The Wire

Mary Masterson and Emma Davis live their lives as vegetarians. Both are sophomores in college who live on campus. Masterson goes to Baldwin Wallace and Davis goes to Cleveland State University. And each one has a different story to tell about being vegetarian.

So what is a vegetarian? And how is it different from being vegan? Merriam-Webster defines vegetarian as a person who does not eat meat : someone whose diet consists wholly of vegetables, fruits, grains, nuts, and sometimes eggs or dairy products.

It defines vegan as a strict vegetarian who consumes no food (such as meat, eggs, or dairy products) that comes from animals, also : one who abstains from using animal products (such as leather).

Masterson defines being a vegetarian by not eating any fish or meat, but I still eat dairy products and eggs. I also choose not to use animal products like leather. Basically, I try to live as peacefully as I can, and for me that includes not causing any harm to animals.

Davis said they are a vegetarian, as well as a person who tries not to use anything that isnt cruelty free in regards to beauty products.

So even to vegetarians, the line between veganism and vegetarianism is blurred.

Masterson has been a vegetarian for 8 years, since she was 12. While Davis went vegetarian about six or seven years ago.

When asked how this affects her life Masterson said, I think being vegetarian really guides a lot of my moral and ethical decisions and has really changed my viewpoint about life and how I view animals and living things. For where it affects me, I would say that whenever I go somewhere to eat, I have to factor in whether or not I can eat there or if they will be able to make accommodations to the meal so I will be able to eat it.

Davis said, it doesnt affect me particularly on a day to day basis, other than having to be slightly picky whenever there is a group dinner of some kind. It also crops up when people wish to stop for fast food in the car, because salads are not really portable foods.

Masterson added that when I go out to eat with friends or go to a family party I am not always certain that I will have something to eat, and it is frustrating sometimes when my extended family doesnt have options for me to eat anything. It is also difficult because many foods can be easily made vegetarian, but people will still make them with chicken/beef broth or put meat in a sauce dish.

Davis concurs with Masterson, but only finds it difficult because I dont wish to be an inconvenience.

The reasons behind why Davis and Masterson went vegetarian were very similar.

Davis chose this because of my deep love for animals, and prior to going fully vegetarian I didnt eat pork for about five years. I watched and read Charlottes Web as a kid and couldnt fathom eating Wilbur, so I dropped the pork.

Masterson chose to be vegetarian mainly because of the ethics and animal rights component of the lifestyle. I have always cared a lot about animals, and I eventually realized that I no longer wanted to cause harm to them by eating meat because I believe animals are complex and emotional and that they deserve to have safe and happy lives. Additionally, I chose to become vegetarian because of the environmental damage that the meat industry has done, and I believe that being vegetarian is much more sustainable than the corporate meat industry, which has become dominant over many local farmers who do use sustainable practices.

Davis and Masterson then shared some stories about being vegetarian.

Davis said, a horror story of mine is when I stopped eating pork for several years and I was a pre-teen (Im not certain the exact age) and my friends mother who knew I didnt eat pork lied to me and tricked me into consuming pork. I was devastated, and promptly felt sick.

Masterson said, one story that stands out to me is when I was first telling my mom that I wanted to be vegetarian. I remember explaining to her that I was afraid that my dad would be upset that I was going to stop eating meat because when I was at his house he would always cook meat and I remember her saying that he wouldnt be upset that I wanted to take care of animals and couldnt understand why I was worried. After a few minutes of confusion, I eventually figured out that she thought I said I wanted to be a veterinarian instead of vegetarian. After everything was cleared up, it ended up working out fine and my dad actually wasnt upset about it after all.

Surprisingly being a vegetarian doesnt affect Mastersons and Daviss daily routine all that much.

For Masterson, being vegetarian really only affects what I do at meal times because I have to make sure I am getting enough protein and other nutrients, but its not that different than when I ate meat in regards to my daily routine.

Davis said that the only time it really affected them was when I was in high school my mom would text me when dinner was almost ready and then I would make my own vegetarian dish, if whatever she made couldnt have the meat removed easily.

As to how she is coping at BW, Masterson said, it can be difficult sometimes because my options in the dining hall are a lot more limited. Usually there is always a vegetarian option but a lot of times it doesnt have enough protein in it, so I will find myself having to eat other snacks. I really like when tofu is offered as a meal choice because it is more filling and has enough nutrients. In terms of finances, I think for some it may be difficult, especially if you have to buy extra snacks to get protein, and usually those tend to be healthier so they are more expensive, but I have found that it is possible to get cheap foods that are nutritious and filling, but it requires some research and budgeting.

Davis said, in regards to dining at CSU, that being vegetarian as a college student isnt terribly hard because the dining hall always has salad, and often has pasta or tacos as well.

Masterson said, I dont think its that difficult to be vegetarian, I think at the beginning it requires some patience and discipline to keep up with a plant-based diet and not eat meat, but once you get the hang of it, its not that much difficult than any other dietary choice. You also may need to be able to plan your meals in advance in order to make sure youre getting enough vitamins/nutrients and budgeting your shopping plan, but I think that can be said for any diet.

Davis added that you have to make sure to still consume some protein.

Masterson said the benefits [of being vegetarian] are that it makes me feel good that my diet and lifestyle is reflective of the morals I want to live by, and sometimes its a lot healthier than what I ate before being vegetarian. Becoming vegetarian has been one of the most meaningful choices Ive made in my life and Im glad I decided to do it.

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A Day in the Life of a Vegetarian - The Exponent

The push to end meat consumption has become one of the more urgent causes of our time and one of the most politically fraught. As advocacy against meat-eating has ramped up, with activists and consumers citing its harm to animals, workers, and consumers, so has the backlash. It is the latest flashpoint in what seems to be an all-encompassing culture war.

That wars most recent front: Lyon, Frances third-largest city and the countrys gastronomic capital.

In February, Grgory Doucet, the mayor of Lyon, announced that the citys school cafeterias would temporarily stop serving meat every day. That edict sparked a local backlash. Farmers rolled out tractors to occupy city hall, and government ministers accused the mayor of harming children.

In March, Lyons administrative court dismissed a petition by meat producers, right-wing politicians, and some parents to ban the meatless menu, saying that it doesnt create risks for children. The schools will be serving non-meat dishes (though fish is allowed) until Easter, or even longer.

Those who took issue with the change accused Lyons mayor of pushing his environmental agenda onto kids plates, but he actually had a practical reason to get meat out of the citys 206 schools: to speed up food service and make it easier to comply with social distancing rules during the pandemic. A single meatless dish, the thinking went, would be a compromise to the tastes and beliefs of all be it picky eaters, vegetarians, Muslims, or Hindus.

Despite that rationale, the mayors foray into meatless policy ended up getting sucked into a broader culture war around meat and vegetarianism. This may seem like a very French story, but meat both in France and around the globe is not just food; it is also a powerful cultural force and, as such, can be very divisive.

Last month, when Colorados governor simply suggested residents cut out meat one day in March, state legislators and neighboring governors urged their constituents to eat even more meat. That was just the latest skirmish in a long-running battle in the US over an issue that has become deeply polarized and polarizing.

And now the culture war over meat has broken out in Europe. The Lyon controversy underscores the challenge facing the movement to reform our food system: How do you change hearts and minds when something feels so entrenched in ones cultural identity?

To understand whats happening in Lyon, its important to grasp the role that food and meat plays in French culture.

Food is central to Frances conception of itself, and in Lyon especially, which is home to 17 Michelin-starred restaurants. School cafeterias are thought to have a larger mission than to simply nourish bodies; they exist to create French citizens.

That is the republican dream: the idea that wherever you come from, we can give you the conditions to succeed and the cantine is part of it. Its a place to create equal opportunities, says Romain Espinosa, an economist at the University of Rennes who researches plant-based diets.

The traditionalist viewpoint is that to become truly French, children should learn French food culture at school. Thats why pupils lunchtime is something of a ritual here: a full hour of appetizers, main dishes, desserts, and, yes, cheese platters a far cry from the United States pizzas, burgers, and fries.

In France, children as young as 3 years old participate in cafeteria events where local cheese producers present their various artisanal fromages. They learn about terroir (unique environmental factors influencing the taste of foods) and are introduced to dishes from various parts of France, from Normandy mussels to the bouillabaisse, a fish stew from Provence.

In general, Espinosa says, France, just like Italy and Spain, has a very strong food culture. This is a country where you can find butcher stores that date back to before the American Constitution, a country that awards golden medals, with great fanfare, to not just wines but also baguettes, butters, and sour creams.

Such traditionalism and the culinary habits it breeds has its benefits. The French snack far less between meals than Americans, have lower rates of obesity, and consume far less sugar.

Yet it also has downsides, none more so than a powerful reluctance to any change regarding nutrition meaning reluctance to reducing meat consumption and giving up on traditional meat dishes.

That reluctance was on full display when Lyons mayor announced his plan to make the citys school meals temporarily vegetarian; livestock producers brought along with their tractors cows and goats to city hall, and protested with banners claiming that eating meat is the basis of humanity.

French media exploded with disputes among top government officials: The minister of the interior called the decision an unacceptable insult to French farmers. The minister for ecological transition said the conservative politicians arguments were prehistoric.

The minister of agriculture, Julien Denormandie, called for everyone to stop putting ideology on our kids plates and, instead, feed them meat that they need to grow well. For what its worth, Frances food and environmental agency, ANSES, has stated that eating vegetarian once per week is perfectly fine for children, while the American Dietetic Association says that well-planned vegetarian diets are appropriate for individuals during all stages of the life cycle, including childhood.

Conservative voices were quick to declare that for children from impoverished families, school lunch is the only chance to eat meat and get enough protein. That might have been correct several decades ago, but today such claims are entirely false, says Laurent Bgue-Shankland, a social psychologist at the University of Grenoble, pointing out that in France low-income households consume more meat than the wealthy. If anything, 98 percent of French kids dont get enough fiber, something that eating more vegetarian foods would help achieve.

The outcry from farmers over Lyons meatless school meals is also, in large part, about social identity, a battle of the city versus the countryside somewhat similar to the urban/rural, liberal/conservative divide in the United States.

In France, vegetarianism and veganism are often portrayed as lifestyle choices of bobos (bourgeois and bohemian): left-voting, well-off urbanites who are thought to misunderstand the realities of rural life. The bobos promotion of vegetarian diets, the thinking goes, isnt just a social and cultural affront it could have material consequences as well, leading French farmers to financial ruin.

This discourse has similar undertones to the 2019 yellow vest protests in France, which started with a proposed fuel tax, seen as particularly unfair to struggling countryside dwellers who rely on cars for commuting, while rich Parisians dont even need cars to get around their city of 302 metro stations.

But these disputes over food arent just happening in France. In Denmark, an initiative to establish two vegetarian days per week in state canteens was scrapped soon after its introduction. In the UK, parents in farming communities destroyed a meat-free Mondays idea in schools.

The US has seen even more of these skirmishes break out, often in explicitly political settings.

In 2018, Sen. Ted Cruz quipped that if Texans elected Beto ORourke, a Democrat, to the Senate, hed ban barbecue. In 2019, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and President Trump sparred over hamburgers amid arguments over the Green New Deal. During Georgias Senate runoff campaign, Republican David Perdue mocked his opponent (and now senator) Jon Ossoff for eating a plant-based burger, saying hed be having Waffle Houses all-star special (two eggs, toast, waffles, grits or hash browns, and your choice of bacon, sausage, or ham), and directly asked Georgians to pick your side.

And last month, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis declared March 20 MeatOut Day, intended to raise awareness of the environmental and health benefits of eating less meat and more plant-based foods. In response, Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts declared March 20 Meat on the Menu Day, and Wyomings governor made a similar declaration.

These battles in the larger culture war show that policymakers and advocates should be intentional about how they frame the discussion around meat. While vegetarians and climate activists might be eager to enact broad policies to curb meat consumption, such moves might only backfire and inspire greater opposition given how enmeshed meat is in cultural identity.

An example from a couple of years back is instructive. When in 2019 France introduced an experiment (which ends in October 2021) to offer children a vegetarian option at all school cafeterias, the outcry was not as heated as it is now in Lyon. It was likely because the vegetarian meals were often offered as a choice, and called the green menu to avoid terms like vegetarian or meatless. It worked well: Now, when a vegetarian option is offered, its picked on average by 30 percent of students.

Espinosa suggests that other small nudges along these lines could also be effective, such as offering the vegetarian option before the meat option.

Offering a genuine choice also seems to matter. When the 2019 law was introduced, it was met with opposition in some places because the choices given to children were bland and not particularly healthy omelets with cheese, highly processed soy burgers a poor substitute for Frances usually elaborate lunch dishes. The reason? School cooks didnt know how to prepare meals without meat.

That is now changing. The government started providing recipes to cafeteria chefs and offering training.

Whats working in France aligns with what researchers at the World Resources Institute (WRI), an environmental nonprofit, recommend in order to nudge diners to choose more plant-based foods. WRI has conducted several studies and has concluded that, to no ones surprise, just making the food really delicious is key to getting diners to eat more plant-based foods.

But WRI also recommends creating appetizing dish names, spotlighting the flavor and provenance of a meal, and not labeling it as vegetarian or even as healthy. Think Cuban Black Bean Soup instead of Low-Fat Vegetarian Black Bean Soup.

Nudging our way to a more rational food system may not feel ambitious enough, especially when we consider how big of a role a shift to plant-based foods can play in countering climate change. But heavy-handed policies in that direction also threaten to activate identities around meat-eating, potentially sabotaging those efforts.

That presents a real challenge for climate, animal welfare, and public health advocates, who need to think more about how to sidestep diet-as-identity, rather than stoke it. The recent squabbles in Colorado and Nebraska demonstrate the consequences of failing to account for the role meat plays in culture, especially in such ag-heavy states.

As for Lyon, its unclear whether vegetarian food has survived the culture war, but it has at least survived this recent skirmish.

After the courts decision to uphold Mayor Doucets meatless menu, protests in Lyon fizzled out. The farmers packed up their tractors, goats, and cows and went home, while the media turned their attention elsewhere.

But the children of Lyon are still eating meatless dishes in school every day. This weeks menu includes quenelle, a typical Lyonnaise dumpling with Provenal sauce, with oyster plant au gratin on the side, and honey cake for dessert.

If its as appetizing as it sounds, children can learn that vegetarian food can be delicious, and that a less meat-centric diet need not spell the end of the culture in which they grow up.

Marta Zaraska is the author of Meathooked: The History and Science of Our 2.5-Million-Year Obsession With Meat and Growing Young: How Friendship, Optimism and Kindness Can Help You Live to 100.

Correction: A previous version of this article misidentified the current mayor of Lyon. Grard Collomb left office in 2020; the mayor is now Grgory Doucet.

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A French city announced it would serve meatless school lunches. The backlash was swift. - Vox.com

French President Emmanuel Macron inspects a cow at an exhibition centre in Paris in February 2020. Photo:LUDOVIC MARIN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

PARIS, France Five years on from the Paris Agreement, the first legally binding international treaty on climate change, France has made grand gestures to avert impending ecological disaster.

The French government has recently proposed a ban on short-haul domestic flights, outlawed the heated terraces beloved in Paris, launched a high-profile citizens convention on the climate and is currently debating an amendment to the constitution that would guarantee the preservation of the environment.

But last month when Grgory Doucet, the progressive Green Party mayor of Lyon, announced that school lunch menus offered to some 29,000 Lyonnais children each day would no longer include meat, for many it was a step too far.

Grald Darmanin, the right-leaning French interior minister, said that dropping meat was scandalous and an unacceptable insult to French farmers and butchers that was part of an elitist and moralist policy.

Julien Denormandie, the agriculture minister, called the Lyon mayors introduction of meat-free lunches aberrational from a nutritional point of view and shameful from a social point of view.

Adding to the cacophony of criticism, Bruno Retailleau, president of the right-wing Les Republicains party in the French Senate, described the move as the totalitarian temptation of a current of thought which wants to impose its options on all by force.

Farmers feed cows on the square facing the city hall of Lyon in protest at the mayor's decision to feed kids from vegetarian-only menus. Photo: OLIVIER CHASSIGNOLE/AFP via Getty Images)

But not all have been critical of Lyons meat-free policy. Instead fierce political factions have emerged on both sides, underlining the existential crisis that France faces as it attempts to uproot age-old traditions to avoid climatic catastrophe.

The Minister of Ecological Transition, Barbara Pompili, was one of those to hit back. We have fallen into a prehistoric debate, she said. I regret these worn out clichs, such as vegetarian food provides an unbalanced diet, when we know that meat can be replaced by fish, eggs, and vegetables which provide all the necessary proteins. It prevents us having a real debate on why we want to implement vegetarian menus.

That debate, added Pompili, should focus on the fact that livestock is responsible for 15% of greenhouse gas emissions. Frances own Ecological Transition Agency (ADEME) estimates that a meat dish on average requires 137g of CO2 emissions nearly ten times the 15g emitted in producing a vegetarian equivalent.

Leading global authorities have come to a similar conclusion. In a special report published in 2019, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the UN climate body, found that plant-based diets are a major opportunity for mitigating climate change, and recommended that countries reduce meat consumption.

For Benoit Granier, food expert for the French Climate Action Network, an environmental campaign group, a reduction in eating meat in France will be key to preventing the destruction of the planet.

Its a qualitative and quantitative problem, says Granier. We eat too much meat and too much bad quality meat. Its led to huge deforestation in Latin America. We need to massively reduce consumption of animal products, especially those made with intensive farming practices.

However, Lyon City Hall has played down the climate aspect and insists the decision to drop meat was made to speed up the service in the citys 206 schools to better comply with the pandemics health protocol requirements under COVID-19, which is now entering a deadly third wave across Europe.

We only took the decision to allow the public service to continue, a spokesperson told VICE World News. Children eat more quickly if theres only one choice and thats needed to allow social distancing to be maintained between students.

But critics are doubtful of this explanation and point to the fact that Mayor Doucet pledged in his election campaign last year to offer the choice of a vegetarian menu every day of the week in schools.

A photo shows the aftermath of a protest by farmers in Puy-de-Dome prefecture in Clermont-Ferrand. Photo: BART MAAT/Thierry Zoccolan AFP/AFP via Getty Images

Mlanie Hamon, a lawyer for the Admys-avocats firm, is representing the Departmental Federation of Farmers' Unions (FDSEA) and parents from Lyon in a legal appeal against the decision to temporarily stop serving meat.

The mayor says the reason for not serving meat is because of COVID but he clearly has a political motive, says Hamon, whose emergency appeal was submitted last month. But in any case, we consider it illegal.

The city's administrative court rejected those initial appeals earlier this month, noting that the non-meat menus do not create a health risk for children in terms of an emergency, allowing municipal canteens to continue not serving meat.

But that ruling has not halted the wave of criticism, with some decrying an assault on Frances sacrosanct individual liberty. Pierre Perrin, president of the Rhne regions Butchers Union, told VICE World News the decision to stop serving meat in Lyons cantines is an attack of freedom and that the environmental argument for reducing meat eating was not proven scientifically.

Its more an ideology, he adds. And its wrong. Eating meat is indispensable. Its very worrying. Good food, good living and good eating is part of Lyons culture. Lyon is the capital of French gastronomy.

Analysts say the furore is being framed by some as the latest Anglophone attack on French society and values: from culture wars to culinary wars.

Vegetarianism is seen as an Anglo-American import, says Renan Larue, a French professor at the University of California. Some are trying to make this a question of French identity and ecologists are being accused of betraying French heritage. Its an explosive cocktail.

Larue believes that the framing is down to the fact that France is increasingly being forced to face something of an existential crisis.

Its a particular moment of malaise, because theres a growing feeling of culpability regarding meat-eating in France but many are still attached to this past, he adds. Thats why theres been such a strong reaction.

Others see different factors behind the backlash. lodie Vieille-Blanchard, president of the vegetarian association of France, says that the very influential meat and dairy lobby in France has also played a role in the size of the debacle.

Theres been a historical support for these industries because of it, she says. Lies have been told, a cacophony of them.

But Vieille-Blanchard says that Frances meat consumption has been on the decline for years as attitudes evolve. In 1998, some 93.6kg of meat was consumed on average a year by every French person but that has since fallen to 86.2kg.

Vieille-Blanchard says that Mad cow disease a fatal condition for cattle that led to health problems in adults who consumed affected meat in the 1990s, and a more recent scandal over horse meat discovered in frozen beef lasagnas, have also led to dips in meat consumption.

I believe the decision by Lyon is common sense, she adds. A sustainable diet for the planet is one largely based on vegetable protein.

But while in January, a vegan restaurant near Bordeaux became the first to earn a prestigious Michelin star, only around 2% of French people say they are vegetarian and 0.5% vegan (although 30% say they are flexitarian).

For now, as French parliament this week debates a climate law that could require canteens to serve a vegetarian meal option every day, Lyon City Hall will continue to serve meatless meals. It remains an unpalatable reality for some.

The Interior Ministry and Ecological Transition Ministry did not respond to requests for comment.

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France Is Having an Existential Crisis About Giving Up Meat to Save the Planet - VICE UK

After finding a solution to her ulcers in raw cabbage juice, Alvenia Fulton started a journey in nutrition and natural healing that included becoming vegetarian, earning degrees in nutrition and doctor of naturopathy, authoring books and newspaper columns, founding a health food store in Chicago and being a nutrition consultant to numerous celebrities in the 1970s.

Fulton was born in Tennessee in 1907 and died in Chicago in March 1999. In between, she discovered and learned about the healing power of plants and vegetarian foods, using her knowledge and experience to help people live healthier lives.

As a child, Fulton learned how botanicals from her local woods could help heal illness and wounds. In the 1950s, she suffered from ulcers. Refusing conventional medicine, she turned to juice made from raw cabbage, on the advice of a physician. This led to her studying nutrition, which culminated in a doctorate from Lincoln College of Naturopathy, Indianapolis.

Fulton adopted a vegetarian lifestyle and relocated to Chicago in the late 1950s, where she started the Better Living Health Club to guide members through weight loss and detox regimens. Then she opened Fultonias Health Food Center on the South Side of Chicago, offering customers nutrition advice, vegetarian food and juices, and assorted health food products. Fultons reputation drew attention and patronage from celebrities such as comedian Dick Gregory, dancer Ben Vereen, singer Roberta Flack, actor Michael Caine, comedian Redd Foxx and basketball star Bill Walton. This earned her the moniker Dietitian of the Stars, especially sought after for her expertise on fasting.

Fulton used the written word to reach many people. Her column Eating for Strength and Health appeared in the Chicago Daily Defender, an African-American newspaper then available in print, now available online. She also authored several books, including The Fasting Primer, Vegetarianism: Fact or Myth? Eating to Live, Radiant Health Through Nutrition, and Dick Gregorys Natural Diet For Folks Who Eat: Cookin With Mother Nature!, which she co-wrote with Gregory.

Fulton went toe-to-toe with conventional doctors and others who challenged her work and positions. Doctors don't bother me, she said, in a 1982 Cleveland Call and Post article, according to a blog posted to the NY Public Library site. Only 28% (of doctors) have had nutrition courses in school. That means 72% know absolutely nothing about what I'm talking about. Besides, I have doctors taking my program.

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Dietitian to the stars Alvenia Fulton blazed a trail in natural health - Natural Products INSIDER

In this episode, we speak to Balmurli Natarajan and Suraj Jacob about the politics of vegetarianism in India.

At best, only three in ten Indians are vegetarians, and more realistically less than two in ten are vegetarians. Yet, India is often portrayed as a land of vegetarians in popular culture. Our guests will probe this representation, and reveal how vegetarianism varies across caste, religion, class, gender, state and time.

We will speak toBalmurli Natarajan and Suraj Jacob about the politics of vegetarianism in India.Dr Jacob is a political economist afliated with Azim Premji University, Bengaluru and Centre for Development Studies, Trivandrum. Dr Natrajan is an anthropologist afliated with William Paterson University of New Jersey, United States and Azim Premji University, Bengaluru. We will discuss their EPW articles titled"'Provincialising' Vegetarianism:Putting Indian Food Habits in Their Place" and "Deepening Divides:The Caste, Class and Regional Face of Vegetarianism."

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1 February 2021

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Research Radio Ep 14: The Myth of Vegetarianism in India - Economic and Political Weekly