It is disappointing that Joanna Blythman sees fit to sneer at those who seek a fairer and more humane approach to feeding the world (Where meat is marvellous, Food, January 25).
While complaining that any organisation which advocates moderation in meat consumption is making a crude "generic, broad-brush attack" on those who wish to consume meat on a daily basis, she uses that same approach to describe government agencies, individuals and NGOs as the "anti-meat mob" who can "bang on till they're blue in the face", without being able to "draw the crucial distinction between cereal-fed and pasture-fed animals". The fact that this very distinction is being made by food campaigners like Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and charities like Compassion in World Farming, does not deter her from suggesting a lack of knowledge about food provenance in those she criticises, and it is hard to believe that a food writer of her experience is really unaware of the decades of research into the environmental impact of different diets.
It is fantasy to suggest there is enough pasture in the world for everyone to have meat from pasture-raised animals every day, and the reality is that if the greedy, self-centred rich countries do not curb their excess of meat consumption, we will continue to have devastated rain forests, billions of animals in wretched factory conditions and, worst of all, increasing levels of hunger and malnutrition for the world's poor.
Margaret Green
Glasgow
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