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Economics of Vegetarianism
I just wanted to make a few remarks on a subject that more than a few of my friends will be interested in: the economics of vegetarianism in our society. If you think I'm wrong about something, please let me know. I welcome attempts to correct my ignorance and banish Teh Stoopid. Anyway...
Today at work we ordered Chinese food. I didn't have much money in my wallet and wanted something more substantial than fried rice, so I ordered from the vegetarian menu. The restaurant we ordered from makes very good imitation meat dishes, and the vegetarian alternatives are as substantial as the real thing. But they don't cost as much.
That made me think about meat in the Western diet, historically. Back before the Industrial Revolution, most folks couldn't afford to eat meat, or at least not much, while the well-to-do and aristocracy had a lot of meat in their diet. The higher up on the economic scale you were, the more meat you had.
Nowadays the situation is quite different, at least in America. People lower down on the economic scale eat a lot more meat than their preindustrial equivalents. As far as I can tell, the overwhelming majority of vegetarians are from the priveleged, educated classes (also, most of them seem to be women, but I went to a women's college so my perception may be skewed). The same is essentially true of bread - white bread used to be a luxury, and now brown bread is the more expensive and hard-to-find foodstuff. Once upon a time poorer people ate brown bread and little or no meat: nowadays they eat white bread and a lot of meat, while there are people among the priveleged classes who eat brown bread and little or no meat.
Why is this? Does it have to do with our modern understanding of how diet relates to health - an understanding that educated people are more likely to have? Does it have to do with the mass production of food? The 60's counterculture? Aliens messing us up with psychic rays? Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.
Today at work we ordered Chinese food. I didn't have much money in my wallet and wanted something more substantial than fried rice, so I ordered from the vegetarian menu. The restaurant we ordered from makes very good imitation meat dishes, and the vegetarian alternatives are as substantial as the real thing. But they don't cost as much.
That made me think about meat in the Western diet, historically. Back before the Industrial Revolution, most folks couldn't afford to eat meat, or at least not much, while the well-to-do and aristocracy had a lot of meat in their diet. The higher up on the economic scale you were, the more meat you had.
Nowadays the situation is quite different, at least in America. People lower down on the economic scale eat a lot more meat than their preindustrial equivalents. As far as I can tell, the overwhelming majority of vegetarians are from the priveleged, educated classes (also, most of them seem to be women, but I went to a women's college so my perception may be skewed). The same is essentially true of bread - white bread used to be a luxury, and now brown bread is the more expensive and hard-to-find foodstuff. Once upon a time poorer people ate brown bread and little or no meat: nowadays they eat white bread and a lot of meat, while there are people among the priveleged classes who eat brown bread and little or no meat.
Why is this? Does it have to do with our modern understanding of how diet relates to health - an understanding that educated people are more likely to have? Does it have to do with the mass production of food? The 60's counterculture? Aliens messing us up with psychic rays? Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.
no subject
This is why years ago, being overweight was a sign of affluence - one could afford more than sufficient food. But now it's a bigger problem in underprivledged areas where potato chips and hamburgers are a dime a dozen, but produce is more expensive or not in stores in those areas at all.
For what it's worth, I was raised on a ton of meat, available veggies, and mostly brown bread. Now I eat a small amount of meat, veggies, and almost exclusively (esp if you count rye) brown bread.
no subject
If you read an awful cookbook from the '70s -- which, I must say, is most of them -- you'll notice a lot of recipes advising women how to make the most of "variety meats," such as tongue and brain, or how to add soybeans or wheat as "meat extenders." You don't get that anymore. I suspect, but don't know, that farm subsidies have amped up the production of meat as well.
no subject
I'm very lucky; I found the co-op, which is the only way I can afford to actually attempt to eat. Most poor people don't have time or energy to actually cook so they buy the cheap, pre-prepped foods because that's all they can really actually afford.
Most people honestly believe that they have to have meat to be satisified, so they're going to buy meat instead. We, in the west, believe we have to eat way more meat than our bodies need. We really only need meat like twice a week, but most of us eat it like 2-3 times a day because our culture tells us that meat is healthy and important and the way to be "whole" and "real" and "actually eating" is to consume lots of meat. We don't know how to eat veggies. We don't know how to make them tasty or even interesting. Cultural shift.
Also, this answer may or may not have even touched your question.