Rob Percival is the head of Food Policy at The Soil Association.

He thinks our future diet will be shaped by diverse forces. By novel technologies and the logic of globalisation, by geopolitical tensions and the evolution of cultural preferences, by shocks to the status quo - pandemics and economic strife, the escalation of the climate emergency - and by how we choose to respond. It will also be shaped by our emotions. In short - by the Meat Paradox.

'Should we eat animals?' was, until recently, a question reserved for moral philosophers and an ethically minded minority, but it is now posed on restaurant menus and supermarket shelves, on social media and morning television. The recent surge in popularity for veganism in the Western world has created a debate over our long held relationship with meat.

We must all find a way of balancing competing and contradictory imperatives while understanding the psychology of our dietary choices.

Written by Rob Percival
Read by Alec Newman

Abridged by Polly Coles
Produced by Clive Brill
A Brill production for BBC Radio 4 Show less