I think North America especially the United States lives within a very meat loving society. I can only speak of America from personal experience but I believe that we are so very focused on the concept of 'bigger is better' and the 'more the merrier'. I think these ideals are not only expressed in our food but in most aspects of our society. I think the concept of wanting the best is of human nature. However I think that in America we often take it to extremes as to where we are so focused on the product that we fail to consider the overall intended purpose and experience. At restaurants they often serve huge portions of meat (ex a 20 ounce steak) and there is no biological reason that someone needs that much meat. I remember in school learning that a person only needs to consume a amount of protein each day that is approximately the size of their fist. The United States was founded on the principle that it was a place for all, where those who worked hard could get what they desired. For the past couple of centuries the United States was a place were people could obtain what they wanted. I think what helped aided this concept was that the America was a new, uncharted, open place, where anyone could make something for themselves. Those who came to the United States came from already established places, where there were rules and regulations, on what could and could not be done. In most of these places resources were scare and often limited to vast majority of people. The first Americans brought forth the idea that this nation was filled with abundant resources for all
While I believe Americans have always loved meat, I believe that it was not until after WW2 that many Americans believed that we were deserving of more. Not out of a level of disrespect but out of a level or respect for the hard effort they put forward for the country and its people. The establishment of the American Dream of the 20th century where a family would have a house in the suburbs, steady jobs, healthy kids. I believe they wanted to indulge from the hardships of the earlier half of the 20th century. Americans of the first half of the 20th century were "fighting" every day. They had to fight through two world wars, they had to fight to survive through the great depression, they had to fight, many civil and social right injustices (working rights, children rights, women’s rights, financial rights, social rights, civic rights). I think that after WW2 we became tired of the fighting for everything. I believe that we began to wait to change, we didn't necessary want to work so much for change. We became ok with accepting things they way they were, and we did not want to alter the status quo. It was more about fitting in and belonging then it was for stick using and questioning the system.
To create change in a meat-focused food culture, there needs to be greater awareness and support for other types of food. I believe that message sent from the health/medical community to consume only a certain amount of each food group (ie protein portion the size of a fist) has been beneficial in creating healthy food trends, which has allowed for more food options. However most of these transitions from a meat-focused food culture are much more present/available to the more affluent and are not always accessible to all. I believe that there needs to be greater integration of food/ food groups other than meat for all.
