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Paris Olympics goes meat-free: Good for the planet or good business?

Organisers of the upcoming Paris Olympics have announced 60% of the food served will be meat-free.

The move is in a bid to reduce the event's carbon footprint and will offer more vegetarian cuisine than in any other games.

"Paris 2024's ambition for the games is to use the knowledge and creativity of French cuisine to create more responsible eating habits in stadiums and during sports events," organisers say.

Irish Farmers' Association Limerick branch chair Sean Lavery told Newstalk Breakfast it is a business arrangement rather than a health one.

"I think it's a purely aspirational move by the Paris Olympic Committee," he said.

"They've mandated that 60% of the food provided will be meat-free; but it's really tied in with a commercial arrangement between the Olympics and a company called Garden Gourmet who are a subsidiary of Nestlé.

"The whole meat-free and meat-substitute business is struggling and Nestlé have made a big punt of convincing the organisers to supply meat-free food."

'Disenfranchising choice'

Mr Lavery said he doubts the veracity of the 60% claim for the Paris Olympics.

"In reality only about 4% of the population are vegan or non-meat eaters," he said.

"So they're actually disenfranchising choice for a massive number of competitors at the Olympics".

Happy Food at Home owner Ciara Brennan said something has to change.

"I think there's been enough studies out there, and enough documentaries, to prove that the pollution that is provided by farming with meat products [and] poultry is disgraceful," she said.

"We need to do some change for the better for this Earth."

Ms Brennan said she believes more than 4% of the population is moving towards meat-free diets.

"I believe people are shifting - whether they're shifting 100% or not - they're actually making a conscious effort to improve their health by eating more plants and more fruits," she said.

Mr Lavery said the amount of supermarket space being given over to non-meat products has fallen.

"The number of spacings for vegan food and meat substitutes have actually halved in the last two years," he said.

"The prominent companies doing meat substitutes, like Impossible Foods and all of those, they're all struggling financially.

"Beyond Meat in the first quarter of 2024 have an 18% drop revenue [and] an 16% drop in volume of products sold".

Ms Brennan said the point is about people's health rather than profits.

"It's not about greed; it's actually about moving us forward so that the next generation can actually survive and that they will have an Earth to survive on," she added.

During the two 15-day periods of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, Paris 2024 will serve over 13 million meals.

https://www.newstalk.com/news/paris...usiness-1724644

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Meat Limited at Paris Olympics

If I were an Olympic athlete, I would be pissed off right now. The motto of the Paris Olympics: more French, more local, less meat. First, the good news, getting more locally produced food is fantastic, and I think it should always be a priority:

Under the Paris 2024 "Food Vision," a quarter of the food supplied to athletes must be produced less than 250 kilometers from the place of competition to reduce carbon emissions from transporting fresh produce. French produce is also prioritized, with a goal of 80% of the food provided being made in France.

However, we see another example of meat being vilified (instead of limiting, they could choose to source from local ranchers). Athletes require a high protein diet for muscle recovery, and Olympic athletes even more. Imagine the unnecessary added stress the athletes have to deal with now trying to figure out how to obtain their protein macros.

Do you think athletic performance will be the same as previous games? We'll soon find out!

https://yes2meat.substack.com/p/mea...-paris-olympics