How much meat did people eat in the past?!
I have heard that most people before the industrialization of animal farming ate a whole lot less meat. In fact so much so many people were by default vegetarians.
I'd appreciate any information that would validate or otherwise such a claim.
Answers: I know this is contingent on when and where so please don't give me the old Eskimo argument.
I have heard that most people before the industrialization of animal farming ate a whole lot less meat. In fact so much so many people were by default vegetarians.
I'd appreciate any information that would validate or otherwise such a claim.
This is a paragraph from "The High Wage Economy of Pre-Industrial Britain" from pages 3-4 that does in fact support the view that people were near vegetarians at that time:
"We need a standard to interpret this evidence, which becomes very detailed. A key benchmark is the subsistence income defined as the ‘physiological minimum.’ A family with
that income spends virtually all its resources on food. The diet has to be nutritionally adequate in the sense that it supplies enough calories and protein for the family to survive–but no more. The cheapest way to get that level of nutrition is generally to buy the least expensive grain and boil it into a gruel. Bread (especially wheat bread) is usually avoided as too expensive, and if any bread is taken, it is usually made with inferior grains that are often ground at home to avoid the loss entailed by commercial milling. Some legumes are also eaten for protein. Meat is a rare treat and is often obtained from some natural source like fishing rather than animal husbandry. Small amounts of butter or oil are eaten for their fat. The physiological minimum diet is, thus, a quasi-vegetarian diet based mainly on the cheapest
grain prepared in the way that minimizes the loss of food value in milling and cooking. The physiological minimum diet lacks wheat bread, meat, alcohol, and many dairy products.
These are all expensive ways to get nutrients."
I know only that eggs were the most abundant sources of meat because they were so plentiful in the Spring. The Europeans would hard boil them and then store them via pickling to eat later on whenever needed.
So says my German teacher; sorry if that's wrong.
i can tell u that in germany for example in the ww1 and ww2 due to poverty the consumption of meat was restricted to the rich ppl. and yes, u are right, before the industralization the consumption of meat was lower..now we got mcdonalds and overproduction ,for instants.
People in the past probably ate a lot of meat. Survival to them meant eating meat.
However, nowadays we don't need meat.
Veggies/Vegans rule!! ;0)
well if we're talking caveman days then maybe something like a boar sized animal between a family in one week? really it was whenever they could get their hands on it i.e. lots in the spring as juvenile animals are easier to catch and less in the winter when animals become more shy.
I am sure that meat consumption was much lower on average then than now. But I predate factory farms and in my community and circle of acquaintances we ate meat practically every meal.
Since the earliest times eating flesh foods was related to worship and sacrifice, only the priestly class ate such things and most people did not eat flesh foods on a regular basis. There have always been communities who have revered life in all forms and refused flesh foods -- The people of India, The Buddhists of all countries, the Jains and Hindus also the Essenes, and the Cathars; all were vegetarian and many of those groups which have survived to this day still are. Also the Seventh Day Adventist community in more recent times and many if not all spiritually based meditation groups, Ecologists and Green Advocates embrace a vegetarian lifestyle.
Since the industrial revolution however, where most people worked in the factories and not on the farms, meat consumption increased dramatically among the population. Even in this country not long ago the political slogan was a chicken in every pot. Which would indicate that few people had any.
Personally, I think that when you read Leviticus correctly, and even when you read Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice the message is clear -- Thou shalt not kill. And yes, you can have your pound of flesh -- but not one drop of blood hence, you cannot have your pound of flesh.
It depends on what time period and what location. Areas with long (almost continuous) growing seasons tended to eat less meat because they had enough produce to consume. Meat was normally consumes for celebrations and things of that nature though. Areas with long non-growing seasons ate more meat for survival. Without eating meat it would have been difficult to impossible to have established permanent residence in many locations on Earth.
I don't know how far in the past you mean, but in colonial U.S. times, apparently meat was quite common:
http://www.history.org/Almanack/life/foo...
http://www.gaspee.com/ColonialRecipes.ht...
http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodcolonial...
Those would all predate industrialized farming as we know it.
Kyle--I'm sure Pre-Industrial Britain was the acme of health. Those people didn't eat meat because they couldn't afford it. Bread was too expensive in their eyes, how could they afford meat? They ate the fish because it was free!
i hate to break the news to you homeboy, but humans started out as hunters/gatherers. not yet able to farm because they didn't have the knowledge, they ate mostly meat, and whatever plants they grew accustomed to that didn't make them sick. farming is a trade only picked up in the recent 4000-5000 years
From what I have read, meat was scarce and temporal. I think there is a good reason that meat pies, soups and casseroles were invented. These were meat-stretching recipes, making each meat section last longer or feed more people.
People in the past did not have a fraction of the luxuries we now have. Most of them would laugh their heads off at what we call necessities.