Reducetarianism, whatsit? Easy: kill less, live more

It may be tempting to dismiss it as yet another buzzword. Very simply, if you can’t give it up, reduce the amount of meat you eat. Come on, there’s more than one way to have your fill

Reducetarianism. Have you heard of it? It’s a term coined by Brian Kateman, who works with the Earth Institute Center for Environmental Sustainability and has a Master’s Degree in Conservation Biology. He is also the author of The Reducetarian Solution: How the Surprisingly Simple Act of Reducing the Amount of Meat in your Diet can Transform your Health and the Planet.

The concept is easy to understand: the individual act of mindfully reducing the amount of animal products consumed. Which to me is a good halfway point between status quo and quitting cold turkey.

It is a conscious decoupling. What makes the concept palatable is its subtlety. No drastic cutting out of meat from your diet. Instead, you reduce it, consciously. Is it doable? Absolutely yes. While inherently a simple concept, for the largest number of people who know they want to get aboard the concept, it’s like giving yourself permission. It’s a nod. Yes, I will reduce the amount of meat I consume.

Speaking as one who has toyed with the idea many a time, what typically happens is that I decide to cut out meat, and then come face to face with temptation — a beautiful roast or a marvellous curry. Before you know it, you’ve put away a bit more than a spoonful, and the fallout is that you give up the attempt. You’re resigned to not succeeding, because of this awful guilt you lug around at having failed the previous time(s). At some level, the Reducetarian concept works because you give yourself permission to reach a meatless target as it were, in incremental steps.

Tomorrow and the day after, May 20 and 21, is the first ever Reducetarian Summit in New York City. It aims to bring together perspectives and technologies from the world over ‘to explore how to create a more equitable, compassionate and sustainable food system.’

Because one thing is amply clear: we are living beyond our means. The earth cannot support a universal lifestyle where the gold standard is conspicuous consumption.

One question on everybody’s mind is that this move doesn’t mean less cows getting killed. While this is a great idea, how does this become the wave: that we don’t want more meat? Says Brian Kateman, “Each and every time we eat a plant-based meal we reduce the amount of animals that are raised for food on factory farms due to basic supply and demand. The average person eats 7,000 animals in his or her lifetime. If you cut back 10 per cent, you save 700 animals from a lifetime of misery.”

Many of us have seen video clips about the horrors of factory farming. Most of them are disturbing to the point they create revulsion. Spreading the message starts with education so it is imperative that accessible information is there in the public domain. Kateman’s most convincing argument is that “meat consumption is not an all-or-nothing premise. We make choices about food everyday, so the binary of vegan-omnivore is fallacy.” The movement recommends that everybody can try Meatless Monday, Vegan Before Six, Weekday Vegetarian and other ways to actively support the conservation of

our planet. Kateman adds, “Given that most people don’t choose food based on ethics or environmental concerns or even their own health, rather, they choose food based on price, convenience, and taste, it’s important that we support innovations in plant-based foods. These products are becoming increasingly popular and affordable, taste delicious, and aren’t served with a side of climate change and heart disease.”

Says George Marshall, founder of Climate Outreach Information Network and author of Don’t Even Think About It: Why Our Brains Are Wired to

Ignore Climate Change, “People will aggressively defend their choice of food because nothing speaks more strongly to people’s identity. The power of… the reduction principle is that it recognises this and reinforces the positive social values of food by challenging the waste of thoughtless, meaningless overconsumption.”

I have a question for Kateman. Reducetarianism may be more easily accepted in the western world but what about developing countries? Growing affluence in these countries can be correlated with an exponential increase in meat consumption. How does one get the message to everyone now? Kateman responds, “It’s true while meat consumption has slowed in the US, it’s on the rise in the developing world. The reducetarian message has been translated into dozens of languages already but we’re eager to spread our message further internationally. At our summit [starting tomorrow], we will be exploring other strategies, like policy, economic, and marketbased initiatives to lessen demand and increase alternative options.”

How much meat qualifies as a portion? The general advice from your nutritionist will be: equivalent to the size of your palm. In the UAE, which has a per head consumption of over 73kg meat per year (according to statistics released by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations), could we not take a pledge to reduce how much meat and other animal protein we put away.

I know it’s not doing me much good anyway — my cholesterol scores are through the roof. How about yours?

Most people don’t choose food based on ethics or environmental concerns or even their own health, it’s important that we support innovations in plantbased foods. These are increasingly affordable, taste delicious, and aren’t served with a side of climate change and heart disease Brian Kateman author, co-founder of Reducetarianism