Meet your Meat - CBC Ideas 2010

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Meet Your Meat

We North Americans love our meat. It’s cheap, it’s plentiful and it’s oh so satisfying. Who, except vegetarians can resist the smell of steak, chicken or ribs sizzling on the barbeque? What was once reserved for special occasions has become our everyday fare, sometimes for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Every year, the average North American chomps through 30 whole chickens, a third of a pig and a tenth of a cow - that’s about a half a pound of meat a day. And it’s not just North America. Worldwide, the per capita consumption of meat has doubled in the past half century. In this 3-part series Jill Eisen asks the question: What do we really know about the meat we buy?

Part 1
Broadcast May 17

Once it’s butchered and packaged, most meat looks pretty much the same. Our only choice is whether to go for the boneless chicken breast or the pork chops. Most of us think more about what kind of television or which brand of toothpaste to buy than where our meat comes from. But where does it come from and what are our consumer dollars doing?

Broadcast May 24

Meat is one of the most nutritious foods there is. But lately, it’s been getting a very bad rap. It’s blamed for everything from cruelty to animals to human illness to environmental destruction. For many of us, eating meat has become a kind of guilty pleasure akin to smoking. Nagging at the back of our minds is the unsettling thought that maybe we really should give it up. Might be a good idea, but on the other hand, if we stop eating animals farmers aren’t going to raise them and that could be a big problem. Jill Eisen explores the arguments for and against eating meat.

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Part 3

Broadcast May 31

Almost all the meat and eggs you’ll find on supermarket shelves come from factory farms or feedlots - places where the animals that provide our food are kept by the thousands and where the majority never get to see the light of day. Factory farms are blamed for everything from cruelty to animals to human illness to environmental destruction. For many of us, eating meat has become a kind of guilty pleasure. Nagging at the back of our minds is the unsettling thought that maybe we really should give it up. Ten percent of North Americans already call themselves vegetarians, and their numbers are growing. But if you love your meat, don’t despair. In this final program in our series, Jill Eisen points to alternatives to factory farming that are humane, healthy and even good for the environment.