IN MY OPINION: We Eat Way Too Much Meat

Hey Foodies,

Since the start of the COVID-19 lockdown, and half of the world's adult population being deprived of receiving a steady income, we've all had to think about how best to stretch out our finances. We now have to think long and hard about what we purchase and if we can afford it. This also includes our biggest and most important essential...food. Many of us have to debate on what food is necessary and what is not. However, I still see people filling their trolleys with sweets and bright coloured processed food. And people are still buying a ton of meat; one of the most expensive food items in South Africa.

I watched a video made by a YouTuber named Young Pharaoh, and he was talking about how some of the food that we eat leave parasites in our bodies that then influence the host to eat more of that food. Please watch the video because he explains it more eloquently than I ever could. I am convinced that this is true because South Africans are still spending insane amount of money to buy meat. Our nation is addicted to meat.

Besides the addiction, meat is also a huge part of South African culture. We have braais or shisanyama (South African barbecues) for almost every occasion. Birthdays, weddings, engagement parties, baby showers, the weekend, the sun is out...we even have a national braai day. South Africans braai meat. I have never heard of vegetarian or vegan shisanyama, especially amongst black people. My people would tell you to get lost with that white people stuff. But meat eating is not about race because majority of the people in this country eat meat. Majority of people in the world eat meat.

The slaughtering of animals for meat is a lucrative industry because there is such high demand for it. Billions of animals are slaughtered each day so that we can overindulge ourselves with meat. The demand for the meat is so high, that many animals are bred quickly in cages, having to endure horrible conditions before being slaughtered. They get sick because of these conditions and are given antibiotics. Whatever that animal ingests, humans ingest. Whatever state that animal was in physically, we take on. If an animal is in distress while being brutality murdered, we take on the state of that animal. There is plenty of evidence that suggests that this is true.

Besides all of that, this extreme meat farming is one of the leading causes of deforestation, as many trees are in forests for the production of meat. Here are a few stats from 2019 that have recorded the worldwide demand for meat and its environmental effects.

Trees = oxygen for all living beings, including humans. No trees = less oxygen. So, we continue to eat tons of meat at the expense of our planet. Our home.

I have no beef with meat, pun intended, I just think we eat too much of it. Even though we're going through an economic crisis right now due to the coronavirus, we're still willing to spend a heck of a lot of money on meat. It really is an addiction. I'm not saying don't eat meat, I'm saying why not eat less meat. Why not lessen the demand for meat? That way we can eat meat that hasn't been slaughtered inhumanely, and it will result in less cutting down of trees.

A lot of people may also not be educated about meat alternatives. I think a lot of people are still convinced that meat is the best form of protein, when it isn't. Let's break down what protein does for a second. Protein is ingested to essentially build muscle, strengthen bones and make humans stronger, right. Men who go to the gym to build muscle eat a lot of meat for that reason. But if we look at one of the strongest and biggest animals, the elephant, we can see that the "meat has more protein" theory is not exactly true. Elephants are herbivores. They only get their protein from green leafy vegetables. Maybe if we educate people about alternative sources of protein, they may eat less meat. I wrote a list of them in a Tasty Tip post called Lockdown Essentials. Please check them out or do your own research about these. I will also be posting mostly tried and tested vegan recipes on this blog. Egg and dairy production is also a problem to our environment, but that's another story for another day. All I'm suggesting in this post is that we eat less meat. This increased consumption of meat is a new thing. There was certainly way less meat production in our grandparents time. We can eat less meat like they did. Do it to save more money. Most importantly, do it for the sake of your environment. 

Take care of yourselves and eat well