At our grocery stores and dinner tables, even the most thoughtful consumers are overwhelmed
 by the number of considerations to weigh when choosing what to eat—especially when it comes to meat. Guided by the noble principle of least harm, many responsible citizens resolve the ethical, environmental and nutritional conundrum by quitting meat entirely. But can a healthy, resilient and conscientious food system exist without animals?

Sacred Cow probes the fundamental moral, environmental and nutritional quandaries we face in raising and eating animals. In this project, we focus our lens on the largest and perhaps most maligned of farmed animals, the cow.

COMMON ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT MEAT...

• Red meat causes cancer, obesity and heart disease. 

• We’re eating too much meat.
• Humans don’t need to consume animal products to be healthy. 

• Raising livestock is bad for the environment.

• It’s unethical to eat animals. 

• If we can produce meat in labs, then why should we eat animals? 


The connection between nutrition and ecosystem health is starting to make some headway into mainstream media. Everyone is trying to figure out how to feed the world in the most sustainable and healthy way. However, we've allowed corporate interest, big food, flawed science, click-bait media and naïve celebrities to steer us away from what a truly nutrient-dense, ethical and sustainable, and regenerative food system really is. The mantra that “all meat is bad” influences how we're training dietitians, shaping our dietary guidelines, designing school lunch policies, and funding for nutrition-related research.

As we’ve become more globalized, the entire world is now pushing towards the "heart healthy" (and highly processed) Western diet. In the process, we're destroying entire ecosystems and human health through industrial, ultra-processed food.

Sacred Cow comes at a critical point in the nutrition and sustainability story. A meat tax is a very real possibility. Well intended yet highly misguided, The EAT Lancet Global Dietary Guidelines are calling for less than 1/2 an ounce of red meat per day, for human and planetary health.

Meat is being vilified as causing cancer, heart disease and diabetes, yet there are no solid studies to back this up. Meanwhile, Silicon Valley has invested millions in highly processed meat alternatives, with the assumption that engineering our proteins in factories will be a better alternative to something nature has already figured out: grazing animals, restoring land while converting cellulose into protein.

The solution is regenerative agriculture.

The truth is, well-managed cattle are the unlikely heroes of this story. We can increase biodiversity, improve soil health, increase the water holding capacity of the land and raise high quality, nutrient-dense protein, while preserving family farming communities. Removing these animals from our food system could cause more harm than good. It’s not the cow, it’s the how.

• Meat should be traceable: farm, breed, and slaughter conditions should be known.
• Butchery should use the whole animal (nose-to-tail) so nothing is wasted.
• Local processing quality matters; farmers can control the animal’s life but often not its final day.

How industrial food became dominant

• Post–World War II agriculture scaled up through chemicals, monocultures, and efficiency goals.
• Processed food engineering amplified sugar/salt/flavor to drive repeat consumption.
• Public messaging shifted toward low-fat eating while ultra-processed foods expanded.

Health narratives around fat, meat, and processing

• Low-fat guidance did not prevent rising obesity, diabetes, and metabolic disease.
• Processed meats were framed as cancer-causing; red meat was framed as risky too.
• Nutrition guidance strongly shapes institutions (schools, healthcare) and food programs.

Plant Based identity, nutrient gaps, and personal health fallout

• Plant Based can become identity, making counter evidence hard to absorb.
• Some people do well for a time; many later develop health problems and leave the diet.
• Animal foods provide or simplify access to B12, bioavailable iron/zinc, EPA/DHA, and other nutrients.
• Supplements are a weak substitute in settings without clinicians, pharmacies, or supply chains.

Limits of observational nutrition claims

• Correlations between red meat and disease can reflect confounding behaviors (smoking, inactivity, low produce intake).
• Meat eaten within a whole-food, plant-rich pattern is not inherently harmful.
• Processed food is treated as the main driver behind modern chronic disease patterns.

Ethics conflict and activism pressure

• Activists targeted a butcher shop with protests and demanded public messaging concessions.
• The clash is shared opposition to factory farming but divergent solutions.

Alternatives to livestock: lab meat and plant-based substitutes

• Lab-grown and highly processed substitutes still depend on industrial crop inputs and fossil-fuel supply chains.
• Marketing is disguising the material inputs, processing, and ecological costs.

Regenerative grazing, soil, water, and biodiversity

• Managed grazing is rebuilding soil structure, water infiltration, and ecological function.
• Ruminants are co-creators of grassland soils via trampling, manure, and plant regrowth cycles.
• Portable infrastructure and multi-species rotations are stacking functions per acre.

Methane framing: biogenic vs fossil carbon

• Enteric methane is part of a short carbon cycle with ~10-year atmospheric lifetime.
• Fossil methane is adding ancient carbon and driving net atmospheric imbalance.

Land-use constraints and “marginal land” framing

• A large share of agricultural land is unsuitable for cropping but usable for grazing.
• Removing ruminants is creating a nutrient-dense food gap and degrading ecosystem function.

Desertification and restoration

• Poor management is accelerating erosion and water damage over decades.
• Rancher collectives are restoring grasslands and springs at very large scale.

Nutrition equity and child outcomes

• Adding small amounts of meat to children’s diets is improving school performance (45% figure).
• A proposed global dietary pattern restricting animal foods is unfair to regions needing more animal-source nutrients.