Original version

BBC World Service

BBC World Service Radio

World Service Radio

The Food Chain

Factual: Food & Drink

Examining what it takes to put food on your plate

The Food Chain examines the business, science and cultural significance of food, and what it takes to put food on your plate.

BBC World Service Online

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

BBC World Service West and Central Africa Schedule

BBC World Service West and Central Africa

BBC World Service Australasia

BBC World Service schedule for American satellite radio and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean

BBC World Service South Asia

BBC World Service East Asia

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa Schedule

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa

BBC World Service News Internet

The Food Chain: Why the Heat about Meat?

Magazines & Reviews

Why Do We Get So Angry About Meat?

29/11/2018 GMT

Why the Heat about Meat?

BBC World Service - The Food Chain, Why the Heat about Meat?

Why do we get so angry when we talk about food? When conversation turns to meat in particular, it doesn’t take long for debate to become heated and emotive. Voices get louder. Insults are hurled. Death threats are issued.

Earlier this month, a group of UK scientists suggested a tax on red and processed meat would save thousands of lives. The discussion that followed quickly changed from being scientific and factual, to personal. It’s not the first food debate to have turned ugly - and in this episode Emily Thomas sets out to ask why. 

What is it about meat that gets us so mad? How are conversations around what we eat manipulated for political and personal gain? And if we understood more about science, would debate around diet be less vulnerable to hijack?

Contributors: Dr Marco Springmann, researcher at the Oxford Martin Programme on the Future of Food; Chris Snowden, head of Lifestyle Economics at The Institute of Economic Affairs; Dr Catherine Happer, Lecturer in Sociology at Glasgow University; and Sarah Boseley, Health Editor of The Guardian. 

(Picture: Sausage on fork, Credit: BBC)

Accessibility links

Programme Index

The Food Chain

Why the Heat about Meat?

Genres

Formats

Brand

BBC World Service

About BBC World Service