Is Meat a Luxury?

Introduction

The concept of luxury has had various descriptions throughout the years (Hennings et al., 2013a and b). According to the French fashion icon Coco Chanel: “Luxury is a necessity that begins where necessity ends” (in Husic & Cicic, 2009, p. 235). This famous quote refers to a particular life style described by the Oxford Latin Dictionary (1992, p. 30) as “extravagant living, (over)-indulgence”. Similarly, luxury is defined as enlightening, providing extra pleasure and flattering simultaneously all senses and is “the appendage of the ruling classes” (Kapferer, 1997, p. 253). Luxury provides numerous forms of physical and psychological values (Wiedman et al., 2007). The Merriam-Webster dictionary (2009, n.p.) explains luxury as “a condition of abundance or great ease and comfort” or “something adding to pleasure or comfort but not absolutely necessary”. Phau and Prendergast (2000) suggest that luxury brands evoke exclusivity, high brand awareness and perceived quality, and consequently attract customer loyalty. The qualities of: (1) life style; (2) abundance and access; (3) pleasure; and (4) loyalty, are major characteristics associated with luxury. What this chapter does is look at meat through the lens of luxury.

Meat’s four luxury characteristics differ in a historical perspective – they manifest differently in the past, the present and the future. Whilst in the past availability and economic affordability determined meat’s luxury status, its environmental and public health impacts combined with ethical considerations are likely to influence its future. A diet with high meat intake has a much bigger environmental footprint – in relation to greenhouse gas emissions and climate change (Hedenus et al., 2014), biodiversity loss, land and water use (Marinova & Raphaely, 2017), peak phosphorus (White & Cordell, 2015), as well as serious negative consequences for public health (Marsh et al., 2016). Nevertheless, the global population continues to expand its per capita meat supply and consumption (Raphaely & Marinova, 2016) augmenting the need to understand the link with luxury.

The consumption of meat also differs across geographies and nations. In the West nowadays meat is a daily nutritional source and not considered a luxury food while in cuisines like Korean, Bangladeshi or Ethiopian, it is more like a seasoning rather than main meal (Kaye, 2014; Smith, 2017). Environmental and animal rights groups (e.g. Animal Liberation Front, 2006) on the other hand argue that meat should be treated as a luxury because of livestock welfare and ecological considerations. A shift to seeing meat as a luxury in the West, can also potentially help preserve and reaffirm the traditional diets in the developing world which are generally healthier and rely more on plant-based products. The aim of this chapter is to unpack the four luxury characteristics of meat in order to encourage a new attitude and behavioural changes towards reduction in the consumption of animal-based products.