Meat Management Column: The name game

This column was originally published in the November 2020 edition of Meat Management.

Too many of my columns for this publication over the last four years have started with something along the lines of ‘by the time this is published x, y or z may have happened in relation to Brexit, or it might not have – who knows?!’ Given the major question mark hanging over industry’s head at the minute regarding whether there will be an FTA or not with the EU, I have decided it is safer to avoid the subject entirely on this occasion. I’m sure greater minds than mine will speculate.

Something that has been grabbing the headlines in the meat world recently is the ‘Ceci n’est pas un steak’ communication campaign launched by European farming and meat organisations. It is a play on the painting by Belgian, surrealist artist René Magritte titled ‘The Treachery of Images’. Readers may be familiar with it, but to (inexpertly) reduce it to a few words, the painting is of a pipe with text below in French stating ‘This is not a pipe’. The message being that it is an image or a representation of a pipe, rather than an actual pipe. The campaign cleverly translates this to the debate around denomination of foods not containing meat with words traditionally associated with meat, for instance sausage, burger and steak. While they may look somewhat like meat and have names like meat – they are, in fact, not meat.

This is topical because the European Parliament has been considering amendments to a bill, which if it had been accepted, would mean such terms could only be used in the EU to market foods which really contain meat. Arguments were made on both sides, with the meat lobby arguing the use of such terms for vegan or vegetarian items is confusing and that promoting plant-based products with traditional meat terms would mean unfair competition. The campaign also highlighted the nature of products like veggie burgers, listing out the numerous ingredients contained in them with the slogan ‘Ceci n’est pas un burger’ underneath. Arguments against a change were, in part, based on a questioning of the notion that consumers were actually confused as to whether they were buying meat or not when they pick up a veggie burger, for example. Dairy denominations were also involved and one comment pointed out that consumers purchasing peanut butter don’t expect it to contain actual butter.

While 2020 has been unique in just about every way, one thing that I don’t think will be any different for many is the inevitable arrival of Christmas seemingly out of nowhere, with the accompanying last minute rush for food and gifts on Christmas Eve! However, some in the trade are already wondering how meat consumption may be different this year. The Christmas season will surely see fewer office dinners and parties. Depending on what rules are in place at that time we could see people hosting friends and family in smaller groups over a number of days instead of a large group all at once.

This could perhaps see a diversification of the types of meat consumed over Christmas, might we see more lamb and beef consumption, on top of the more traditional turkey and ham? Whatever meat you choose this Christmas be sure to enjoy it!