Focusing on Plants

2 weeks ago, I presented to my US Food Policy and Politics class about the alternative protein industry. This week, Beyond Meat* had the best IPO thus far of 2019. These past few weeks of doing a deep dive into the reduction of animal meat in the average American diet has got me thinking about why diets aren’t changing faster given new understanding about the health and environmental ramifications of the overconsumption of animal meat. One factor that is often overlooked is messaging. Like many other scientific endeavors, messaging to the general public makes all the difference as to whether or not this new-found knowledge is actually utilized by society.

Eating greens and reducing animal meat consumption has never been this “cool”. So why has it been difficult to see a consistent change in more consumption patterns? I hypothesize that the current messaging is not inclusive enough. Specifically, the messaging surrounding “plan-based” diets. Going strictly plant-based is troubling for two reasons. Firstly, you can technically have a plant-based diet and basically eat only pasta (read: simple carbs), which is not healthy. The second reason is that plant-based insinuates that you either are or aren’t eating a diet based on plants. I suggest a switch to “plant-focused”, which is not binary. Encouraging a plant-focused diet can include all the same principles as a plant-based diet but is a much more positive spin because it doesn’t deter those who still want to consume some meat while eating a more plant-based overall diet. It also provides a more fluid outlook for those who are not yet fully comfortable with going cold-turkey (pun intended) on their animal meat consumption. After all, a healthy diet is meant to be fluid and not rigid. The term plant-focused allows those to transition away from animal meat-heavy diets by becoming more “focused” on plants at their own pace.

*Beyond Meat is a company that produces meat products that are not derived from animal meat.