What I hadn't realised, until reading this important book, is that I was a victim of the Meat Paradox.
Quite simply, it means this:
The majority of British people (average 85%) say that they are opposed to factory farming of animals. And yet, about 95% of all British farmed chicken and pork is produced in industrial units where the animals do not enjoy a natural life and are slaughtered when very young.
The paradox is that the same people who are opposed to industrial farming continue to eat the produce of industrial farming and resist any calls for them to change their habits. Some even get quite militant when you suggest it.
When I was a lad growing up in Cornwall, my dad and grandad went shooting and brought home rabbits, pigeons, pheasant and other game. I regularly saw them paunching and plucking their haul and then got to enjoy the meat at mealtimes. When I was older I got to do the same. We also went fishing and I was quite used to seeing whole mackerel and bass and pollock on the grill.
However, we've now become detached from the process of meat production. It's just a lump of something red and white in a cellophane package. And younger people tell me that when they do get a reminder of the visceral truth, they find it a bit distressing. All of which is why Brits have an insatiable taste for anonymous white slabs of cod but are no longer so keen on fish 'with the heads on'. You'll rarely see birds on display in the butchers with heads and feet on either, and it's becoming harder to find things like liver, heart, kidney and tongue in some supermarkets. Everything that reminds us that these products were once part of a living, sentient creature is being removed by the industry to keep us munching on meat.
But here's the thing ... we can't go on eating like this. Our current system is unsustainable. It's contributing to climate change and destroying biodiversity. And it's cruel to animals.
In the past 50 years, the number of farmed animals has increased by 300%. They all need land to live on and food to eat. Which is why 40% of all arable farming is given over to growing animal feed instead of crops for humans to eat.
And if every person on Earth ate the same amount of meat as we Brits do, we'd need almost three planet's worth of space for all the animals (make that four planets for the average American).
Meanwhile, to cater for our burger addiction, cattle farming destroys more rainforest and jungle than any other factor, while the number of wild animals on Earth has decreased by 2/3rds.
Meanwhile, animal welfare has plummeted.
In an effort to increase yield without using more space, more and more cows are being moved off pasture and into crowded metal fenced CAFOs (concentrated animal feed operations). There are now over 1000 of these in the UK and the number is growing (see here). Four poultry CAFOs in the UK are licensed to keep a million chickens each. And the run off of phosphates from these huge operations is poisoning our rivers (see here).
In terms of biomass, humans and farm animals now make up 96% of all mammals. Chickens, staggeringly, account for 70% of all birds on the planet. And the sad truth is that most of those chickens spend their short lives (around a month) crammed into massive sheds with tens of thousands of other birds. They're grown artificially fast and often suffer with ammonia burns (from all the droppings) and joint issues as they are too heavy for their young legs.
This image, from a 2014 scientific paper shows how chickens have changed over time to meet our demand for breast meat:
KFC - which promotes itself as a higher welfare chicken supplier - publishes an annual report (see here) and in the most recent (2022) it states that the mortality of birds being grown for them is only 4.17% annually. Consider that against the fact that KFC alone rears and slaughters over 23 million birds a year. Some of those deaths are from culls due to ill-health - the number of birds culled for leg issues is 0.84%, 29.11% suffer Foot Pad Dermatitis, 12.29% have Hock Burn, and 0.10% suffer with Breast Blister. In the welfare section, the report also says that diversions have been provided for the birds' welfare. These consist of one hay bale per thousand birds. KFC considers these figures as acceptable.
Your average free range chicken suffers none of these things and lives a lot longer than the average 35 days of a bird destined for the supermarket or fast food franchise.
If we want to make things better for us, the animals and the planet there is only one answer - we have to start eating a more plant-based diet and explore more meat alternatives. But, as this book explains, that doesn't mean we all become vegetarians or vegans. Eating meat is okay. It's natural. We evolved to be omnivorous - we have enzymes that can process animal fats even though many of our closest relatives, like chimpanzees, don't. A little meat can even be good for us due to the vitamins and minerals it contains.
The problem is that we don't eat 'a little'.
This book is a call for meat sanity and a return to sensible omnivory of the kind our ancestors once enjoyed. There's also a strong argument that the best way to farm is regenerative - a rotation of crops and ruminant animals keeps the soil healthy and fertilised and increases biodiversity. There are no fields on factory farms.
We can fix the problem of factory farming overnight if we recognise that we suffer from the Meat Paradox. These terrible places only exist because people eat what they produce. We need to eat meat from animals that have had a longer, healthier life.
Wherein lies the issue of cost.
As George Monbiot once said, 'The problem isn't cheap food. The problem is that good food is too expensive'. He's right. But, as I explained back in July, I don't spend any more money on meat per week now than I ever did. I just get less meat for my money because I buy locally-sourced (if possible) organic free range meat.
A whole chicken may cost me twice as much as a factory-farmed supermarket bird but I will get 4-6 meals out of it for me and Mrs C. For example:
Day 1 - Roast.
Day 2 - Cold cuts for lunch (or maybe Coronation chicken sandwiches?), Bubble and Squeak for dinner (using left over veg too).
Day 3 - A few bits of chicken and some smoked bacon with salad (yum). Then the last of the meat in a curry.
Day 4 - Soup or risotto using fresh chicken stock made from the carcass.
I bulk out my meals with tasty, healthy veggies or pulses. A typically roast dinner looks like this in my house. The area circled is the meat - a bit of breast and a bit of leg). Everything else is veg - roast potatoes and parsnips, sprouts, cauli and broccoli , stuffing and bread sauce. And a splash of gravy.
It's the food - in the right proportions - that we evolved to eat. It's the way our ancestors ate. It's not dissimilar to the meals I had put in front of me as a child in the 1960s and 70s when meat was much more expensive and fast food wasn't commonplace.
And it's how I eat now.
As the result of changing my eating habits, I'm over four stones lighter, I've reversed my diabetes and lowered my cholesterol and blood pressure. I'm healthier and happier (and so is my gut biome). More importantly, I've seriously reduced my contribution to the problem of factory farming.
I can still enjoy a bacon sandwich - but as a treat, not as an everyday staple. My conscience, if not entirely clear, is happy with that.
The Meat Paradox is a fascinating, life-changing book (it was for me, anyway) and an important read if we're to save the planet for our grandchildren and their children.
Do read it.
But, if you prefer your books on audio, BBC Sounds has an abridged version available here in five bite-sized chunks.
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