Americans eat more meat than any other country in the world – according to New York Times food writer Mark Bittman, Americans eat 1/6th of the world’s meat supply, even though we have less than 1/20th of the world’s population. In much of the world, meat is a scarce luxury, but in America, meat (especially hamburger) is often used as a cheap convenience food.

However, despite America’s longtime love affair with meat, one of the most noticeable food trends of the past few years of the Recession is that Americans are eating less meat. In fact, Americans are projected to eat 12% less meat in 2012 than they did in 2007. A 12% drop in meat consumption in only five years is significant.

Here are a few reasons behind the trend toward less meat eating in America – and why eating less meat can be good for your physical and financial health:

• Flexitarianism is on the rise: The Values Institute at DGWB Advertising and Communications named flexitarianism as one of its top consumer health trends for 2012. Flexitarianism is a philosophy of eating that doesn’t totally exclude meat (like vegetarianism) but tries to limit meat consumption in favor of more fresh fruits and vegetables. Flexitarians also promote the “Meatless Monday” campaign, encouraging people to cook meatless recipes on Mondays in order to draw awareness to the health benefits of a reduced-meat diet.
• Meat is getting more expensive: As emerging market countries like China and India continue to get wealthier, people there are starting to eat more meat (because there are more people who can afford to buy meat than ever before). This drives up the price of meat in the U.S., since American-raised meat can be exported to international markets just like any other commodity. Another factor in the price of meat is the price of agricultural commodities like corn and soybeans that are used for animal feed. If livestock feed goes up in price, that makes it more expensive to raise livestock, which then makes the animals’ meat more expensive for consumers. If families are on a tight budget, they can often save some significant money by cooking like vegetarians (or “flexitarians”) for a few extra meals per week.
• People are concerned about the environmental impact of meat: Because Americans eat so much meat, a lot of cropland has to be devoted to raising grains to be fed to cows, pigs and chickens. Because these livestock are so often confined in tight quarters, and their waste collects in manure lagoons, there are bad consequences for animal welfare and the environment. Chipotle recently issued an ad with Willie Nelson singing a cover of Coldplay’s “The Scientist” playing over an animated video that makes the case for sustainable meat production, using smaller scale methods that are friendlier to animals and the environment. More people are becoming concerned about the environmental impact of how they eat. If more Americans would eat like flexitarians, there wouldn’t be as much need for massive livestock confinement operations.

Who knows if this trend toward less meat eating will continue if the economy improves, but there are powerful motivators, for both health and financial reasons, to eat less meat and more fruits and vegetables. Perhaps this trend of eating less meat can be a silver lining to the tough economic times we’ve been going through.

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