"Indigenous people eat animals, so we can't say anything bad about meat."

Welcome! This is the second post in a series contending that too many livestock and too much meat are key obstacles to better food systems. Relying on the ancient Stoic maxim 'The Obstacle is the Way,' I suggest we will more likely find our way if we focus on solutions to the problems of industrial meat.  This series explores reasons that many environmental, health, and justice organizations avoid discussing animal agriculture. See the introductory post here.

Rationale #1: "Indigenous people eat animals, so we can't say anything bad about meat."

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 animals, so we can't say anything bad about meat.” I’ve since come to feel that this belief is a very real barrier to grappling with the problem of animal agriculture today.

As a white settler myself – whose European ancestors settled on Indigenous land in North America – I, too, feel guilt for historical wrongs. Her answer reminded me of a food-justice activist who told me that for his diverse coalition, a suggestion that anyone consider eating less meat "would sound colonialist."

But it seems to me that it is large-scale industrial meat systems, and implicit support of those, that is colonialist. When Europeans invaded North America, they brought cows, chickens, goats, and pigs, so they could eat European food.[1] Those animals proliferated, were commercialized, and soon dominated food landscapes and cultures. This insidious process has displaced many traditional foods for factory-farmed meat.

Does anything about this (industrial hog farms, showing pregnant pigs in widely used gestation crates), accord with Indigenous food values or traditions? Image from: Lou Gold /Flickr.

It's about the land

Indigenous people have been pushed off their traditional territories by settler agriculture of all kinds, but mass-scale meat bears most of the blame. That’s because far more land is needed to produce industrial meat than plant proteins. Three-quarters of global agricultural land is used for livestock and livestock feed, producing only 38% of the world's protein and 17% of its calories.[2] From the Amazon rainforest to the Canadian prairies, most livestock pastures and feed crops are on traditional territories. In South America, Indigenous peoples continue to be displaced for cattle-ranching and monocultured feed crops.[3][4] Almost all soy production in the Amazon is for animal feed.[5] There are Indigenous writers and activists who have told us that mass-produced meat sets back their well-being.[6][7][8]

As well, Big Meat tends to set up factory farms in lower-income BIPOC communities, polluting their water and air.[9] I’ve seen factory pig farms in North Carolina: windowless barns crammed with animals, and vast manure pits. Neighbours there told me they can’t sit outdoors due to putrid smells, or drink from their taps due to contamination from livestock waste.

Graphical abstract from research exploring the disproportionate exposure of Indigenous and Black residents to the environmental and health impacts of industrial hog farms. Read this 2022 study in Science of the Total Environment

B.C. Indigenous leaders have denounced industrial meat

In 2023, the influential Union of BC Indian Chiefs declared that industrial meat is antithetical to Indigenous values regarding treatment of animals and environments.[10][11] The Chiefs said that factory farming leads to environmental degradation and to displacement of Indigenous peoples. They called for Canada and BC governments to work with First Nations to develop laws and regulations that are aligned with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and that reduce impacts of factory farming on climate, habitat, and animal welfare. They called for funding to communities to support transitions to better animal welfare practices.

Excerpt from UBCIC 2023 letter to BC's agriculture ministries, drawing attention to its resolution on factory farming. Read the whole letter here.

None of this is to suggest that Indigenous people need to become vegan 

Thoughtful critiques of meat are not aimed at Indigenous peoples. They’re not advocating wholly plant-based diets for people who, by tradition and geography, have been reliant on animal-source foods.

The real problem is mass-scale factory farming, and excessive consumption of animal-based foods by people who don’t have access to respectfully harvested and sustainably produced animal foods but do have ready access to plant-based proteins. That’s most of us in cities.

There are vegan activists who want all meat-eating to end (and carnists advocating all-meat diets). There’s a valid critique of a kind of “white veganism” that condemns all meat-eating, without regard to cultural and socioeconomic context.[12][13][14][15] But most dietitians, food-policy folks and educators are not anti-meat. What we oppose is the excessive, cruel, and unsustainable approaches that dominate animal agriculture today. 

Eating mass-produced meat supports structures that harm Indigenous interests

 Eating factory-farmed meat, and at current levels, is not helping Indigenous peoples. In occupying vast lands that were taken from them, Big Meat has mowed down wildlands and biodiversity. That undermines Indigenous food sovereignty, because traditional food harvesting requires thriving ecosystems.

Meat production fuels the climate crisis, which disproportionately harms Indigenous communities.

As the UBCIC underscored, factory farming contributes to climate change.[16] Meat production creates far more greenhouse gases than does production of equivalent amounts of plant proteins.[17] Indigenous communities are more vulnerable to (and more harmed by) climate change because they’re more likely to live in acutely impacted regions and to be housing- and food-insecure.[18]

Industrial hog farms like this one in North Carolina generate astonishing amounts of waste (often piped, untreated, into vast, smelly manure "lagoons" as shown here). It has profound impacts on air, water, health, and quality of life of local residents – who are far more likely to be BIPOC. This is a screenshot from a documentary on Youtube by Mark DeVries Studio on Youtube.

Not all Indigenous people want meat-centred diets

 All of us have food traditions we value, even while we explore new menus and possibilities. Is it not patronizing to assume that Indigenous people, with their long histories of stewardship in changing environments, all want diets centred on meat, whatever the source?

Historically, most Indigenous peoples have relied at least partly on plant foods. Some ate little meat at all. Some relied heavily on the “three sisters” of corn, beans, and squash, modelling Indigenous soil management, crop resilience, ecological balance, and complete nutrition.[19] Indigenous traditions taught respect for animals (like moose and salmon) and protection of their populations and habitats. Indigenous scholar Tabitha Robin Martens, who has written on Indigenous food sovereignty, relates that animals are not simply food, but sacred beings. “Eating animals carries a responsibility,” she writes: to treat them well, not be wasteful, and harvest carefully.[20]

Contrast that with industrial production of cattle, chickens, and pigs. Today, animals are “confined, abused, and slaughtered with little apparent concerns for their life or spirit,” writes farmer/agricultural economist John Ikerd.[21] It's all so that (mostly urban, non-Indigenous) people get cheap daily servings of animal protein.

No people's diet has ever been monolithic or frozen in time, and some Indigenous thought-leaders are forging a culturally grounded veganism—like Mi'kmaw scholar Margaret Robinson. Her fascinating essay Is the Moose Still My Brother If We Don’t Eat Him? explores how the meaning of animal consumption within Mi’kmaq philosophy, ceremony, and practice might change as cultured-meat production advances.[22][23]

Dr. Margaret Robinson, member of the Lennox Island First Nation.

Indigenous foodies emphasize non-industrial food

Indigenous organizations continue to promote traditional foods, including animal-based sustenance from hunting and fishing, that are outside the industrial model. For example, Moosemeat & Marmalade is a Canadian TV series co-hosted by a Cree hunter/bush cook/knowledge keeper and a classically trained UK chef. Each episode’s culinary adventure educates viewers about Indigenous foods, ethical food sourcing, and sustainability.

Art Napoleon, of Cree and Dane Zaa ancestry, co-hosts Moosemeat and Marmalade with UK chef Dan Hayes.

The Indigenous Climate Hub brings Indigenous climate leaders together to share stories and experiences of climate change adaptation. They explore connections between climate and Indigenous diets, and describe how adaptations in Indigenous agriculture offer lessons for farm sectors in Canada and beyond.[24]

More of this, please

I’d like to see more support for these kinds of efforts. Rather than implicitly backing industrial meat systems, we could work for policy that would challenge factory farming. We could eat in ways that allow some rewilding of traditional territories.[25] This would not only benefit peoples who depend on animals for protein – it would mitigate the climate crisis for all of us.

 

NOTES

[1] Alvarez, Linda. “Colonization, Food, and the Practice of Eating.” Food Empowerment Project, Feb. 13, 2019. https://foodispower.org/our-food-choices/colonization-food-and-the-practice-of-eating/

[2] Ritchie, H. and M. Roser. “Half of the world’s habitable land is used for agriculture.” Our World in Data, Feb. 16, 2024. https://ourworldindata.org/global-land-for-agriculture

[3] Taye, Teigist. “How the Global North’s Industrial Meat Habit is Fueling Climate Injustice.” Feedback. Aug. 31, 2023. https://feedbackglobal.org/the-true-cost-of-our-steaks-how-the-global-norths-industrial-meat-habit-is-fueling-climate-injustice/.

[4] Abelvik-Lawson, “The Shocking Violence and Suffering Behind the Global Meat Industry.” Greenpeace, Nov. 12, 2020. https://www.greenpeace.org.uk/news/the-shocking-violence-and-suffering-behind-the-global-meat-industry/

[5] Behrens, Paul. The Best of Times, The Worst of Times: Futures From the Frontiers of Climate Science. Indigo Press, 2020.

[6] Chisholm, Ashley. “How Industrial Meat Oppresses Indigenous People,” Sentient May 4, 2023. https://sentientmedia.org/industrial-meat-indigenous-opression/.

[7] Hazard, Tyler. “Factory Farming Exploits Native Communities: Here’s How.” Compassion in World Farming, Dec. 8, 2020. https://www.ciwf.com/media-and-news/blog/factory-farming-exploits-native-communities-heres-how/.

[8] Taye, Teigist. “How the Global North’s Industrial Meat Habit is Fueling Climate Injustice.” Feedback. Aug. 31, 2023. https://feedbackglobal.org/the-true-cost-of-our-steaks-how-the-global-norths-industrial-meat-habit-is-fueling-climate-injustice/.

[9] Ansari, Sana. Factory Farming’s Impacts on Indigenous Populations. New Roots Institute, May 27, 2021.  

[10] Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs. “Open Letter: UBCIC Resolution 2023-19 ‘“Call to Strengthen Animal Farming Practices and Address the Significant Environmental Impacts of Factory Farming’.” Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs, July 20, 2023. https://www.ubcic.bc.ca/open_letter_call_to_strengthen_animal_farming_practices_address_factory_farming

[11] Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs. Resolution No. 2023-19, Re: Call to Strengthen Animal Farming Practices and Address the Significant Environmental Impacts of Factory Farming. Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs, June 8, 2023. https://assets.nationbuilder.com/ubcic/pages/4700/attachments/original/1689891868/2023June_CC_Resolution2023-19_FactoryFarmingLegislationReform.pdf?1689891868

[12] Yenilmez, Sena. “White Veganism and Its Impact on Indigenous Communities.” The Indigenous Foundation, Mar. 10, 2022. https://www.theindigenousfoundation.org/articles/white-veganism-and-its-impact-on-indigenous-communities.

[13] Harper, A. Breeze, ed. Sistah Vegan: Black Female Vegans Speak on Food, Identity, Health, and Society. Lantern Books, 2009.

[14] Robinson, Margaret. “Veganism and Mi’kmaq legends.” The Canadian Journal of Native Studies 33, no. 1 (2013): 189-196.

[15] Patel, Raj. Stuffed and starved: The hidden battle for the world food system-Revised and updated. Melville House, 2012.

[16] Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs. Resolution No. 2023-19, Re: Call to Strengthen Animal Farming Practices and Address the Significant Environmental Impacts of Factory Farming. Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs, June 8, 2023. https://assets.nationbuilder.com/ubcic/pages/4700/attachments/original/1689891868/2023June_CC_Resolution2023-19_FactoryFarmingLegislationReform.pdf?1689891868.

[17] Poore, J, and T Nemecek. “Reducing Food’s Environmental Impacts through Producers and Consumers.” Science 360 (6392): 987–992 (June 1, 2018). https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaq0216.

[18] Reyes-García, Victoria et al. “Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities Report Ongoing, Tangible, Widespread Climate Change Impacts.” Nature Communications Earth & Environment 4 (2023): article no. 64, https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-023-01164-y. See also Mojtaba Shafiee et al., “Food Security Status of Indigenous Peoples in Canada According to the 4 Pillars of Food Security: A Scoping Review,” Advances in Nutrition 13, no. 6 (2022): 2537–2558. https://doi.org/10.1093/advances/nmac081

[19] Karonhiowanen Barberstock, Rye. “Traditional Food Systems and Climate Change: Adapting Indigenous Agriculture.” Indigenous Climate Hub, Nov. 1, 2024. https://indigenousclimatehub.ca/2024/11/traditional-food-systems-and-climate-change-adapting-indigenous-agriculture/

[20] Martens, Tabitha Robin. “Eating Animals Carries a Responsibility.” The University of British Columbia Magazine. Nov. 30, 2022. https://magazine.alumni.ubc.ca/2022/fall-2022/collective-wisdom/can-and-should-we-remove-animals-our-food-system

[21] Ikerd, John. 2019. “Indigenous Wisdom and the Sovereignty to Eat Meat.” Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development 9 (B), 2019. https://doi.org/10.5304/jafscd.2019.09B.019.

[22] Robinson, Margaret. “Is the Moose Still My Brother if We Don’t Eat Him?”in J. Castricano, R.R. Simonsen, (eds.) Critical Perspectives on Veganism. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, 2016. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-33419-6_12

[23] Vermes, Jason. “This Indigenous Scholar Chose a Vegan Diet to Honour Mi'kmaw Teachings.” CBC Radio Cross Country Checkup, Jan. 27, 2019. https://www.cbc.ca/radio/checkup/will-you-embrace-the-food-guide-s-plant-based-diet-1.4992293/this-indigenous-scholar-chose-a-vegan-diet-to-honour-mi-kmaw-teachings-1.4995159

[24] Viswanathan, Leela. “The Indigenous Food Sovereignty Movement: Helping in the Fight Against Food Insecurity.”  Indigenous Climate Hub, July 31, 2020. https://indigenousclimatehub.ca/2020/07/the-indigenous-food-sovereignty-movement-helping-in-the-fight-against-food-insecurity/

[25] Ritchie, Hannah. “If the World Adopted a Plant-Based Diet, We Would Reduce Global Agricultural Land Use From 4 to 1 Billion Hectares.” Our World In Data, Mar. 4, 2021. https://ourworldindata.org/land-use-diets