Thank You to Those Who See the Meaty Obstacle as The Way
Welcome! This post is the last in a series suggesting that we’ll only develop food systems that are ecological, healthy, just, and morally defensible when we face the challenges of industrial animal…
“Frequent Meat Consumption is Normal. It’s What People Do.”
To the question “What’s for dinner?” the answer is often a single word: chicken, or beef. When meat is the feature, why bother mentioning “sides”? In Western societies, nearly continual meat-eating is…
“Plant-Based/Vegan Food is for the ‘Elite’”
Versions of this bounce around popular culture — plant-based eating is for privileged (and mostly white) people, and plant-based food is more expensive. But this way of thinking misses three important facts.…
“If We Question Animal Agriculture, We’ll Alienate Supporters”
Why risk talking about industrial meat production and excessive meat consumption? Why take on this controversial topic when we’re already doing challenging and important work? Those are questions some climate and social-justice…
“People Have the Right to Eat Whatever They Want”
I’ve heard it from climate organizations and food-justice advocates — that asking people to eat less meat is not acceptable. That it feels paternalistic. Annoying. Culturally disrespectful or even colonialist,[1] and maybe…
“If We Critique Industrial Animal Agriculture, That Will Seem Disrespectful…”
My introduction to this came at a national food studies conference where I asked a researcher why her scholarly group doesn’t talk about animal agriculture. She hesitated, then said: “Indigenous people eat…
The Obstacle is The Way
For more than 25 years I’ve been researching and writing about food systems. And for all those years I’ve been surprised and perplexed that so many organizations and colleagues in the food…
Made-in-Canada Food Strategies for Today
Canadians are pushing back on our former ally to the South and its incoherent program of “economic force.” As US leaders shred old alliances, cozy up to Putin, imperil civil rights, and…
There’s Something We Can All Do About Avian Flu
This past month there was a conference in Europe that I would have loved to attend. Entitled Defund Meat, it brought together global researchers who recognize that big investment money fuels factory farming,…
Big Meat and Dairy as ‘Commercial Determinants of Health’
This year, the Public Health Association of BC (PHABC) had a brilliant theme for its annual conference: “Commercial Determinants of Health.” BELOW: a screenshot of advertising for the Public Health Association of…
Industrial Livestock Production Affects Indigenous Communities Too
A food researcher once told me that the reason her food-security group never talks about the problems of meat is that “Indigenous people eat food from animals… so we can’t say anything…
Netherlands Cities Show Leadership
Now that some cities and regions have put strong regulations into place minimizing the advertising of harmful products — tobacco, alcohol, and in some places, fossil fuels — should we consider banning,…