What's their beef? Conde Nast food website Epicurious will no longer mention meat in its recipes, articles or on social media in move they say is about 'sustainability and being pro-planet'
Conde Nast's Epicurious has announced it will be cutting out beef from its recipes, social media posts and in its articles.
The food website said the move is 'about sustainability and being pro-planet', labelling the meat the 'biggest climate offender in the American diet'.
Around 15 per cent of total global greenhouse gas emissions is down to livestock and cattle 'represents about 65 per cent' of that, according to the United Nations.
In a post on their site editors wrote: 'Abstaining from beef means we can use our resources to focus our recipes on more climate-friendly foods.
'Our hope is that the more sustainable we make our coverage, the more sustainable American cooking will become.
'If you’re looking for ways to lower your personal carbon footprint, abstaining from beef is a straightforward and effective way to do it.'
President Joe Biden last week vowed the US would do its part to cut greenhouse gas, pledging America will cut its emissions blamed for climate change by 50 to 52 percent by 2030, compared with 2005 levels.
He also set America on a path of zero emissions economy by no later than 2050. The White House has not gone into detail about what Americans will need to do to help meet its goal.
Conde Nast's Epicurious has announced it will be cutting out beef from its recipes, social media posts and in its articles. The food website said the move is 'about sustainability and being pro-planet', labelling the meat the 'biggest climate offender in the American diet'
In a post on their site editors wrote: 'Abstaining from beef means we can use our resources to focus our recipes on more climate-friendly foods'
Cows emit methane as a by-product of their digestion. Greenhouse gas emissions from the agriculture sector made up 9.9 per cent of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in 2018, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
Of that amount, methane emissions from livestock (called enteric fermentation) comprised more than a quarter of the emissions from the agriculture sector.
The site said in a statement on Instagram on Monday: 'Today, we announced that we’ve cut out beef. It won’t appear in new Epi recipes, articles, newsletters, or on social going forward.'
Senior Editor Maggie Hoffman, left, and former Digital Director David Tamarkin, right, wrote in a blogpost : 'While beef consumption in the U.S. is significantly down from where it was 30 years ago, it has been slowly creeping up in the past few years.
They added: '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!). It’s about sustainability and being pro-planet.
'Our mission is and will always be the same: to inspire home cooks to be better, smarter, and happier in the kitchen. Follow the link in our bio to learn more.'
Epicurious said it had already began using less beef recipes. It has also been pushing for its readers to use substitutes.
But it will not be removing old recipes from its site, however they will not be featured on their homepage.
Epicurious said it had already began using less beef recipes. It has also been pushing for its readers to use substitutes. But it will not be removing old recipes from its site, however they will not be featured on their homepage
Senior Editor Maggie Hoffman and former Digital Director David Tamarkin wrote in a blogpost: 'While beef consumption in the U.S. is significantly down from where it was 30 years ago, it has been slowly creeping up in the past few years.
'The conversation about sustainable cooking clearly needs to be louder; this policy is our contribution to that conversation.'
In December last year the site announced it was scouring 55 years' worth of recipes from a variety of Conde Nast magazines in search of objectionable titles, ingredient lists and stories told through a white American lens.
