Epicurious, a digital cooking publication, will no longer publish beef-based recipes to encourage home chefs to be more environmentally conscious. The company calls it a "Pro-Planet Move." Company Decision In an article published Monday, the Condé Nast-owned publication confirmed the move but also admitted that it "literally pulled the plug on beef well over a year ago." Because of the carbon footprint of meat, senior editor Maggie Hoffman and former digital director David Tamarkin clarified that leaving out - or even cutting down on - beef makes space for more climate-conscious dishes. "We understand that certain people will see this judgment as a vendetta against cows - or the people who eat them. But we didn't make this choice because we despise hamburgers (we don't!), "they penned. "Instead, we've made the decision to focus purely on sustainability, not providing airtime to one of the world's biggest carbon criminals. We consider this decision to be pro-planet rather than anti-beef." Dropping Beef Beef will no longer be included in new recipes, blogs, emails, or social media posts in the future, though previously released beef material will continue online and in recipe galleries. According to a FAQ, it adopted this program in the fall of 2019 and has only released beef recipes a "handful of times" since then. It has delivered creative twists on meatless meat and grilled vegetables instead, focusing on vegetarian options for summer cookouts. Readers "rallied around the recipes we reported in beef's spot," according to Hoffman and Tamarkin. "These stories' traffic and interaction figures don't lie," they said. "When offered a beef substitute, American chefs become hungry." So, what's the deal with beef, and why now? The editors listed a range of factors to remember, all of which point to combating climate change. They clarified that eliminating beef is a significant step toward being more environmentally conscious. According to an analyst from the Natural Resources Defense Council, a non-profit environmental lobbying organization, Cattle contribute to climate change in a variety of ways. Environmental Impact This includes the large amounts of corn and soybeans cultivated with pesticides and fertilizer to feed livestock. The amount of climate-warming methane released into the environment by cows, high deforestation rates to make room for cows, and the amount of water used to raise cattle and polluted by pollution from their manure. Scaling back on beef isn't a "magic bullet," according to the editors, and most cattle - and even dairy goods - have their own environmental costs. However, they say that the price of beef is exceptionally high. According to the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization, livestock accounts for almost 15% of global greenhouse gas emissions, with beef accounting for the vast majority of those. Cows are 20 times less effective than beans to breed and three times less efficient than poultry and pork. Hopes of Influencing Others Since beef consumption has increased in recent years, Hoffman and Tamarkin claim the "conversation about sustainable cooking obviously needs to be stronger," they agreed to make their decision now. They have expressed their expectation that the majority of the American food media will join in. Source
