A Middle Way? Probing Sufficiency through Meat and Milk in China

Introduction

About one-fifth of the world's greenhouse gas emissions come from agriculture. Much of this relates to livestock used for animal-based foods. Rather than arguing for increased efficiency, MidWay probes the concept of sufficiency to explore its potential for reducing human impacts on Earth's biosphere while preserving overall welfare, i.e., its potential for defining a 'middle way' between 'too little' and 'too much'.

Research Focus

To do this, MidWay studies the cases of meat and milk in China. While meat was always a high-status product, milk was historically considered a 'barbarian' food, and most Chinese were intolerant to it. Both products were scarcely consumed in Chinese history but have boomed in popularity over the past 40 years.

Government Influence

While often thought about as a change of consumer preferences, it has taken a concerted effort by the Chinese government and domestic and international actors to make both products integral to Chinese food practices.

Strategic Research Site

Seeing China as a strategic research site to ask questions about the supply and demand of animal foods, the MidWay project hypothesises that what has made meat and milk integral to Chinese food practices might also be 'otherwise', i.e., opening up a possibility for a future disembedding of meat and milk from food practices.

Methodology

Thus, using a constructivist-inspired lens, MidWay makes use of practice theory and 'systems of provision' to study the normalisation of animal foods in China, particularly since 1978, with China's opening up.

Objectives

The ultimate objective is to probe the concept of sufficiency as a useful organising principle to achieve reduced consumption. This is highlighted through the sub-objectives of understanding how meat and milk have been rendered desirable in China.

Perspectives and Policy Implications

Perspectives that show how food is connected to social, technical, and cultural variables, and the system that provides food, are lacking internationally and could lead to changes through facilitating a multifaceted policy response.