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This old advertising slogan was emblazoned on huge billboards across Germany in the 1970s. Today, this would no longer be permitted. At least not in Haarlem. The city in the Netherlands is the first city in the world to ban advertising for meat and meat products in public spaces from 2024. The Haarlem City Council decided to ban advertising for meat products in order to reduce meat consumption and thus combat climate change. The initiative was launched by the Green Party GroenLinks, and Councillor Ziggy Klazes explained that advertising meat products was contrary to the city's policy of combating global warming.
The decision has drawn fierce criticism from the meat industry, which claims that the authorities are going too far by dictating to people what is best for them. Surprisingly, there are no recent reports in the Dutch press on whether the advertising bans are having any effect. It seems that the Dutch are accepting this in the same way that they are accepting the gradual abolition of cash or the fact that supermarkets now almost exclusively have self-scanning checkouts. And that many restaurants no longer have menus, but only QR codes on the tables. You need a smartphone to see how much the veggie burger costs.
Dear readers! Of course, you decide what to put on your table. Whether you occasionally eat meat, whether you are vegetarian or vegan, whether you are a fruitarian, flexitarian or pescatarian – whether you follow a paleo, low-carb, kosher or halal diet – do as you please. Enjoy this freedom. Listen to your gut feeling in the truest sense of the word – it will tell you whether what you are eating is good for you.
We invite you to take a trip back in time to our early history. Around a million years ago, our ancestor, Homo erectus, discovered the benefits of cooking meat before eating it. Fire had already been tamed and was therefore available. Roasting or boiling the meat of hunted prey not only made it tender, it also improved its energy yield and digestibility. In addition, the cooking process killed potentially harmful microorganisms, reducing the risk of infection. This gradually led to an increase in brain mass from approximately 900 g in Homo erectus to about 1,350 g in modern humans, Homo sapiens. The growing brain mass was crucial for the development of humans' ability to solve complex problems, improve cognitive abilities and develop advanced cultures. This laid the foundation for human civilisation as we know it today.
Today we know that meat provides important nutrients such as iron and vitamin B12, which are necessary for brain development and overall growth. It also contains all nine essential amino acids that the human body cannot produce itself. These are essential for numerous biological processes. While some plant proteins, such as quinoa and soy, also contain essential amino acids, most other plant foods lack one or more of these amino acids.
If you want to follow a meat-free diet, you should make sure you get the following nutrients from other sources: vitamins B12 and D, the minerals calcium and iron, omega-3 fatty acids and essential amino acids. This is certainly possible even if you don't eat meat, but it is something to bear in mind. If necessary, dietary supplements could be considered. A hair mineral analysis, for example, can determine whether the body is lacking important elements. It costs around £65 and can be ordered online from various laboratories. The relevant search engines will provide you with the contact details.
Anyone who wants to eat a meat-free diet for climate protection reasons should be allowed to do so – why not? It doesn't harm anyone else. If you consciously choose to give up meat in order to reduce your personal CO2If you want to reduce your carbon footprint, go ahead! But shouldn't you be consistent? All-inclusive holidays in the Dominican Republic? Pineapples flown in from Costa Rica? Alphonso mangoes flown in from India? Green beans from Kenya? The first asparagus of the season from Peru? Prawns peeled in Morocco? No problem – Lufthansa Cargo makes it possible.
Without the consumption of meat, humanity might have developed differently, both physically and culturally. The brain might be smaller and less complex today, social structures less developed, and human civilisation would have had to find other ways to adapt to the environment.
After this brief digression, let us return to Haarlem in our neighbouring country. The introduction of the advertising ban on meat and meat products took place a few months ago, but it is still unique in the world. This inevitably raises the question of whether politicians should be allowed to interfere in people's diets. Critics see this as a restriction of personal freedom. They argue that such a ban constitutes excessive state intervention and that people's individual dietary choices must be respected. In Haarlem, and now also in some other cities in our neighbouring country, such as Utrecht and Bloemendaal, animal-based foods now seem to be considered at least as dangerous as cigarettes. This is similar to what happened in Germany a few years ago when a general smoking ban was introduced in restaurants and bars. What an outcry there was! But in the end, it was enforced.
Unlike cigarettes, meat has been one of humanity's staple foods for a million years. Can we dictate to people today that they should not eat meat?, that Not being allowed to eat food that has made him what he is today? If someone wants to voluntarily give it up, that is a personal decision. But a mandatory restriction is unacceptable. Fortunately, this ideologically driven debate about a ban on meat advertising is not yet an issue in Germany. Nor should it become one. What would be next? Breathe less, because it harms the climate?
Further sources:
https://nltimes.nl/2023/11/16/municipalities-banning-meat-air-travel-ads-bus-shelters
