the West, the introduction of cattle cars on the
railroads, and the development of the
refrigerated railroad car by Gustavus Swift
and Philip Armour.
Today, with one fifteenth of the world’s
population, the United States eats one third of
the world’s meat. Meat consumption on this
scale is possible only in wealthy societies like
our own, because animal flesh remains a
much less efficient source of nourishment
than plant protein. It takes much less grain to
feed a person than it does to feed a steer or
chicken in order to feed a person. Even today,
with advanced methods of production, it takes
2 pounds of grain to get 1 pound of chicken
meat, and the ratios are 4 to 1 for pork, 8 to 1
for beef. We can afford to depend on animals
as a major source of food only because we
have a surplus of seed proteins.
Why Do People Love Meat?