Dear Burger King: Tofu, not Lemongrass, Will Curb Cow Farts
The solution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions isn’t feeding cows something different, it’s not eating them
Let’s get to the meat of Burger King’s new singalong: The absurd stunt of announcing a diet change for “some” of your cows isn’t a sudden departure from the company’s dismal environmental record. It’s a thinly veiled marketing campaign to help the burger giant to get back to what it does best, without further ado: peddling Whoppers.
Burger King and the company’s peers have fed Americans harmful defaults through kid-friendly motifs for decades. But the pandemic has revealed that our old habits — like eating cheap meat from factory farms that serve as hotbeds for disease and fuel climate change — won’t make for a secure future. In response, we’re now, finally, witnessing the biggest decline in meat consumption in decades.
As Americans’ appetite for beef sours, Burger King could champion a new normal by centering the Impossible Whopper on its menu and sidelining the beef. One study found that such a strategy—simply making veggies the default on menus — reduced meat consumption by over 80 percent. This is because the way food is presented plays a huge role in our food choices. Putting plant protein front and center…
