When Spanish Minister Alberto Garson launched a campaign to reduce meat consumption in the country, he did not expect that not only steak lovers, cattle farmers and meat producers, but also his coalition colleagues would want to turn him into a cutlet. In his July 7 statement, Garson emphasized that animal agriculture is harmful to the environment, that excessive meat consumption is harmful to health, and that people should only buy quality meat products from farms that practice sustainable animal agriculture. Among the first to respond, as expected, were representatives of the opposition. The far-right “Golos” party attacked Garson, accusing him of demonizing anyone who eats meat and insisting that his campaign clearly shows how frighteningly out of touch the Socialist coalition is with ordinary people. “While progressives wonder how they lost the trust of working people, our peasants say: “less communism – more life” (#menosComunismoMásVida),” wrote Santiago Abascal, the director of Vox, on Twitter. Garson’s campaign slogan was: Menos carne, más vida (Less meat, more life)”.
Spain produces a variety of meat products known throughout the world. The opposition People’s Party of Spain considered Garson’s initiative a great eccentricity and called him an “incredibly ignorant person”. Andalusia’s Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Sustainable Development, Carmen Crespo, also called on Garzon to abandon his campaign. It is strange that the initiative of a colleague did not find a response in the hearts of his comrades in the coalition government. “I found this campaign very unsuccessful,” said the country’s Minister of Agriculture, Luis Planas, in an interview with a local radio station. “It’s unfair to the entire meat industry in the country, which makes a significant contribution to the economy.” The agriculture minister’s views are shared by representatives of six meat producers’ associations, who wrote an open letter to Garson. In it, they accused the minister of damaging the reputation of an entire industry that employs some 2.5 million workers and exports its products to other countries for nearly 9 billion euros annually.
The Spanish Prime Minister confessed his love for beef steaks at a press conference in Lithuania. The Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, also did not want to stay out of the fight. At a press conference in Lithuania, where he is on an official visit, Sanchez emphasized that nothing can compare to a good steak. Hit by a storm of criticism, the waiter tried to justify himself and appeared on a state television channel to explain the true motives and goals of his campaign against carnivores.
He emphasized that he was not calling for a complete rejection of meat products, which have long been part of the cultural heritage and which, admittedly, support a significant part of the economy. Garsón was merely trying to persuade people, reminding them of the official recommendation to eat no more than 200 to 500 grams of meat per week. However, it is difficult to imagine that a nation that consumes an average of over a kilogram of meat in the same time period would heed these recommendations.
Of course, Garsone has many supporters, but their voices are currently being drowned out by a storm of criticism. Incidentally, the sacramental question of whether meat should exist or not is not only on the agenda in Spain. Recently, in neighboring France, the central authorities grilled the mayor of Lyon for ordering the removal of meat from school lunches.