Story at a glance
- Food website Epicurious announced on its website and in a social media post Monday that it is cutting beef from the site’s content, including recipes, articles and newsletters.
- The site’s decision was made as part of an effort to promote sustainable, “pro-planet” practices.
- “It might not feel like much, but cutting out just a single ingredient—beef—can have an outsize impact on making a person’s cooking more environmentally friendly,” Epicurious editors wrote.
Food website Epicurious announced on its website and on social media Monday that it is cutting beef from the site’s content, including recipes, articles and newsletters.
“We know that some people might assume that this decision signals some sort of vendetta against cows—or the people who eat them,” the post read. “But this decision was not made because we hate hamburgers (we don’t!).”
The site’s decision was made as part of an effort to promote sustainable, “pro-planet” practices, and in an article on Epicurious Monday, senior editor Maggie Hoffman and former digital director David Tamarkin further detailed the decision.
Hoffman and Tamarkin explained their view that “cutting out beef is a worthwhile first step” for anyone searching for more sustainable cooking practices.
“Almost 15 percent of greenhouse gas emissions globally come from livestock (and everything involved in raising it); 61 percent of those emissions can be traced back to beef,” Hoffman and Tamarkin wrote.
“It might not feel like much, but cutting out just a single ingredient—beef—can have an outsize impact on making a person’s cooking more environmentally friendly,” they added.
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The decision drew criticism from readers and chefs alike, according to Business Insider.
New York chef Angie Mar, who owns and operates the Beatrice Inn, criticized the move in an Instagram post, calling the decision “idiotic,” Business Insider reported.
“Not using your platform to educate people on sustainable farming versus industrial farming, the impact that we have on small, local, farming communities, and the chefs that support them and the ecosystem that those small farms are a part of… (this is) a disservice to consumers who are looking to you for guidance,” Mar said.
Other users vowed to unfollow Epicurious on Instagram, Business Insider reported.
Epicurious’s public announcement comes on the heels of confusion over President Biden’s emission reduction plan, which led some lawmakers to assume the administration was seeking to put limits on Americans’ beef consumption. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack refuted Monday any claims that the administration is considering imposing any restrictions.
“There’s no desire, no effort, no press release, no policy paper — none of that — that would support the notion that the Biden administration is going to suggest that people eat less meat,” Vilsack said. “Or that USDA has some program designed to reduce meat consumption. It’s simply not the case.”
The editors acknowledged the difficult process in getting all parties to “buy-in” to the process of sustainability, but they encouraged readers to do a small part so vendors, corporations and lawmakers might take note.
“Epi’s agenda is the same as it has always been: to inspire home cooks to be better, smarter, and happier in the kitchen,” the editors wrote. “The only change is that we now believe that part of getting better means cooking with the planet in mind. If we don’t, we’ll end up with no planet at all.”
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