Does Meat Consumption Enhance Masculinity?
The perception of red meat consumption as masculine is heavily entrenched in Western culture, not unlike a weighty steel fork jabbed through a grizzled slab of tough, bloody steak. But new evidence suggests this association may originate more with monkeys and marketing than any real boost to manhood.
The role of nutritional need in motivating our dietary choices seems, at times, a vestigial remnant of earlier times. Whatever remains of this guiding principle is regularly drowned out by much louder influences: convenience, the aesthetics of packaging, or the appeal of a particular spokesperson. Even taste, texture, tradition and access to food can play a secondary role to the siren song of the Cocoa Puffs bird, or a Coca-Cola swilling Paris Hilton. The socio-cultural influences on diet choice – crafted, molded and amplified by marketing buzz and self-perpetuating social norms – elevate the qualities of some foods to a near-mythical status in the consumer mind. Paramount among these gastronomic legends are associations between red meat consumption and masculinity.
“Vegetables are for girls… If your instincts tell you a vegetarian diet isn’t manly, you’re right.” (Men’s Health, 2000)