Meatless Monday, and China's Growing Appetite

I’ve decided to go a week without eating meat.  Starting today, I will cut out all formerly living things from my diet.  This also means eggs any formerly sentient creatures.  (But wait, does life start at egg-ception?  I'm not gonna go there).

A butcher in the Pingsha neighborhood near campus [Photo by Chad Jones]

My reasons for trying this out are three-fold.  First, I’ve heard lots of people talk about the health benefits of cutting out meat.  Second, I like to challenge myself to try new things.  Lastly, this week my mother is cutting out sugar to see if it reduces her arthritis, and as she does that I’ll try this.

Yesterday, I showed pictures of my time in China to my father, aunt and uncle.  At one point my uncle said “oh yeah, don’t they view cows as sacred over there?”  He corrected himself before I could, realizing no, the Chinese are not Hindu.  But it made me think of just how much meat China does eat.

In fact, meat consumption in China today is seven times greater than in 1980, according to a report by the Earth Policy Institute, a research and environmental sustainability policy center based in Washington, DC.  The report says that in 1980 Chinese people ate 10 million tons of pork, chicken and fish, while today the figure is about 70 million tons.

The EPI report also makes the staggering claim that “more than a quarter of all the meat produced in the world is now eaten in China.”  And while others wait for the impending day that the Chinese GDP overtakes America’s, it was back in 1992 that China overtook the U.S. are the world’s leading consumer of meat.

Consider it yet another sign of China’s economic growth.  While the Chinese diet places great value on vegetables and fruits, more than most modern Americans I’d say, nevertheless the Chinese population is becoming wealthier on the whole, and as a result they’re focusing more on meat.  Meat and money.