Peak meat: is animal consumption falling out of style in the US?

[G_j]

http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/sustainable-meat-vegan-vegetarian-celebrities

Peak meat: is animal consumption falling out of style in the US?

Demand for meat has declined for a decade in the US, the second-largest consumer of meat per capita. Now Jay Z, Rick Warren and Oprah Winfrey are calling attention to a vegan diet

Tuesday 10 December 2013 12.32 EST

What will be hot on restaurant menus in 2014? The National Restaurant Association, which surveyed more than 1,400 chefs, says the top three trends for next year will be locally sourced meats and seafood, locally grown produce and environmental sustainability. That's welcome news for people who care about the health of the planet, but the chefs may have missed an even bigger change coming to the US diet – the decline of meat.

Today, Americans consume more meat – approximately 270lbs per capita – than carnivores elsewhere (except Luxembourg). But meat consumption in the US has been declining for nearly a decade, according to the research firm Packaged Facts. About 12% of US adults strongly agree and 19% somewhat agree that "they are eating many meatless/vegetarian meals," says David Sprinkle, publisher of Packaged Facts. Beyond the data, there are signs all around us that meat is falling out of favor, for health, environmental, ethical and economic reasons.

The decline of meat creates opportunities for an array of competitors in the protein business. They include the developers of sustainable aquaculture, producers of vegetarian analogs like Beyond Meat and Beyond Eggs, and consumer products firms whose vegetarian products like Boca and Gardein have moved from natural foods channels to mainstream retailers like Target, Safeway and Kroger. Fast-casual chain Chipotle recently launched Sofritas, a tofu sandwich, under the headline, Vegans and Carnivores Unite, while Subway is rolling out a vegetarian falafel sandwich. On its website, Starbucks says: "If you've ever heard someone dismiss vegetables as "rabbit food," you should introduce them to our Hearty Veggie & Brown Rice Salad Bowl."

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[sendero]

1. This is good news...

... for the planet and for our individual health.

My wife is vegan, I tried it and just couldn't do it. But I have definitely lowered my meat consumption and intend to keep lowering it.

[LWolf]

2. I haven't tried to go vegetarian or vegan,

but I've cut meat down to about once a week at one meal.

I'm healthier. If we all did this, people AND the planet would be healthier.

I don't like soy "faux meat." I don't like soy, period. And it doesn't like me.

I've found success using Quorn as a protein alternative.

[RebelOne]

4. I am a vegetarian and I love Quorn's faux meats.

Also Morningstar's products are delicious. A lot of them are soy, but you wouldn't know it.

[sendero]

5. I tried lots of meat substitutes..

... but I don't think I've ever heard of the Quorn product. I will ask my wife to procure some

Actually, by the time I was done with my partial-vegan stint, I had decided that most of the "meat substitute" products were not very good (the Boca stuff was OK, I will never eat Tempeh again and that the answer might be to stop trying to "replace" meat but learn to get protein other ways.

[dionysus]

7. they can do a pretty good job replicating chicken stuff, but beef is trickier.

the veggie corndogs, I can't tell the difference between those and the real ones.

[LWolf]

8. I think getting the protein from other sources

should probably be the first choice. Quorn is the best meat substitute I've found; I can add some ground Quorn to whatever for some low calorie, low cholesterol protein, since I have to watch my diet strictly to maintain a decently healthy weight.

http://www.quorn.us/

[dionysus]

6. quorn and morningstar both make pretty good stuff. i'll eat it even though i still enjoy meat

products.

[sakabatou]

3. There was this vegan Chinese place I used to go to

Sadly it closed.

[Neoma]

9. I'm going to give up everything except...

BBQ pork fried rice and sushi.

[FarCenter]

10. It is just rebalancing of global consumption along with more equivalent standards of living

Beef is relatively flat, pork increasing moderately, and chicken and turkey growing. East and South Asia consumption is increasing.

http://www.fas.usda.gov/psdonline/circulars/livestock_poultry.pdf