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Epicurious will no longer publish beef recipes in what is being called a "pro-planet" shift, the popular digital food magazine has announced.
Driving the news: The Condé Nast-owned publication's Maggie Hoffman and David Tamarkin wrote in a post Monday that the decision was "solely about sustainability, about not giving airtime to one of the world's worst climate offenders."
"We know that some people might assume that this decision signals some sort of vendetta against cows — or the people who eat them. But this decision was not made because we hate hamburgers (we don’t!)."— excerpt from Epicurious' article
- The Epicurious article noted that nearly nearly 15% of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide come from livestock and 61% of those emissions "can be traced back to beef."
Our thought bubble, via Axios' Bryan Walsh: Epicurious' move comes as beef becomes the latest front in an ongoing culture war.
- Per-capita beef consumption in the U.S. has fallen in recent years, with poultry taking up the slack and new plant-based meat products, like Beyond Meat's new 3.0 burger, rising in popularity.
The other side: North American Meat Institute spokesperson Sarah Little said in a statement: "The real question should be how excluding America’s favorite food impacts Epicurious. Perhaps the reduced web traffic will save some electricity."
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