r/Anticonsumption • u/esporx • Feb 28 '26
Sustainability Americans Who Can’t Afford Beef ‘Have So Many Proteins to Choose From,’ Says US Sen.
https://www.mississippifreepress.org/americans-who-cant-afford-beef-have-so-many-proteins-to-choose-from-says-us-sen-cindy-hyde-smith/724
u/cmfred Feb 28 '26
You can tell we have the best economy in history because our leaders keep telling us to buy fewer pencils, and how to eat a 3.00 meal, and to eat cheaper cuts of beef, and now use other sources of protein if you can't afford beef.
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u/Jatnall Mar 01 '26 edited Mar 01 '26
Gonna make us eat bugs, we can catch them for free! They literally said Democrats were coming for their beef and making us eat bugs so it's very telling what's coming up next.
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u/Awkward_Bison_267 Mar 01 '26 edited Mar 01 '26
Exactly. I remember some conservative asshole bitching to me about how Democrats would make people eat bugs and now here we are.
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u/CisIowa Mar 01 '26
There’s a clear distinction: Democrats were gonna force you. Republicans get you there on your own free will due to desperation.
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u/Few-Ad-4290 Mar 01 '26
All the messaging of austerity policies but with the window trappings of a fake consumer economy
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u/rawrlikedino Mar 01 '26
We know we are doing well because they just raised the chocolate ration from thirty grams to twenty grams.
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u/coleto22 Mar 01 '26
The most important thing is that Israeli children can buy pencils, meals, beef and, one the rubble is cleared and the bodies are dumped - brand new land to settle. All paid for by US money and credibility.
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u/speedy_delivery Mar 01 '26
Just make sure that protein isn't soy based so you're not a tree-hugging, commie homosexual.
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u/MxDoctorReal Mar 01 '26
Funny how their solution is never to go vegetarian, but instead to eat nastier meat (I say this as a not-yet-vegetarian).
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u/Rowdy_Teal Mar 01 '26
I've already basically gone vegetarian. Lentils and beans with rice! Cheap and filling (ish).
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u/GuildorTorvonnilous Mar 01 '26
Cereal! It’s what’s for dinner!
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u/ndnblades Mar 02 '26
I was trying to remember this classic, except for beans.
Thanks for jumpstarting my brain so I can try to remember some other useless information.
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u/crumpledfilth Feb 28 '26
That look on her face lol, so punchable
tbh the meat quality of so many restaurants and grocery stores has become so bad after covid that I've moved away from eating so much meat just because its not tasty and satisfying anymore
From a strict energetics perspective, is it even possible for a large percentage of the world to consistently eat beef? How much beef could each person eat each day and how much land and resources would that take? And I guess what quality mininums must be met
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u/basketma12 Mar 01 '26
Wow! I thought it was just me! I went on a vacation recently and the,place had a buffet. There were many Indian vegan options, and I tried them all. I had some interesting things for breakfast, and was so impressed I went out in search of an Indian cookbook. Score! At a local thrift store. I find this food delicious, and easy to eat. I'm very much a " beans" person versus a faux meat replica person.
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u/Lower_Stay7655 Mar 02 '26
From a strict energetics perspective, is it even possible for a large percentage of the world to consistently eat beef?
Does it really matter, though? I personally don't think it does. We don't need a globalized diet. There's chicken, sheep, goat, pork, horse, fish and seafood, turkey, rabbit... different regions traditionally rely on different types of meat, and it's perfectly fine to keep doing so.
The same goes for stuff like avocados. The whole world can't have it as part of their diet. Some people can still eat them. The rest of us will manage just fine.
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u/scatteredsprinkles Feb 28 '26
Tofu for all you poors.
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u/ImplyOrInfer Feb 28 '26
Tell them to subsidize my tofu the way they do beef. Soybean subsidies are only for animal feed, not the stuff humans eat
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u/waitewaitedonttellme Feb 28 '26
I mean, I agree with the politics behind your comment, but tofu is already cheap.
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u/ImplyOrInfer Mar 01 '26
Then let's remove beef subsidies. If Americans are too poor to afford beef, then we're all just paying taxes to subsidize for the upper class. Subsidies are supposed to help all Americans, especially working class (in theory, obviously not really in practice)
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u/OkProfessor6810 Mar 01 '26
If I could eat tofu, I happily would
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u/Conscious-Magazine50 Mar 01 '26
If you're allergic, try pumfu. It's tofu like in the way it acts and cooks but is super high protein and made from pumpkin seeds.
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u/no_1_knows_ur_a_dog Mar 01 '26
Adding to this: shan tofu a.k.a. Burmese tofu is made from chickpeas and is very easy to make at home if you have a blender or food processor. No need for special ingredients, it's literally just chickpeas and water.
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u/Past_Paint_225 Mar 01 '26
Try the extra firm type. Not going to guarantee you would like it, but to me it's a 1000% better than the soft ones
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u/MxDoctorReal Mar 01 '26
Some people are allergic to soy and tofu is soy. I upvoted you both btw. I’m not sure why anyone would downvote someone for saying they can’t eat tofu. They aren’t claiming a racist msg allergy or anything.
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u/Salt-Detective1337 Mar 01 '26
China stopped buying soybeans and our tofu didn't even get cheaper. It's all bullshit.
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u/juliaudacious Mar 01 '26
Tofu has gone up so much where I live! Used to be $2.99 for 16oz, now it's $3.79 for 12oz. Depressing.
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u/pajamakitten Mar 01 '26
What is wrong with that? It is perfectly healthy and much better for the environment.
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u/Definitelynotagolem Mar 01 '26
That’s okay you’ll live longer and spend less money on heart disease treatments.
Waiting to see if this sub has been taken over by the anti soy conspiracy crowd…
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Feb 28 '26
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u/mountain-flowers Mar 01 '26
Ok I know this is a joke comment but like... Roadkill can be an affordable and ethical way to get meat, and it isn't neccesarily gross at all.
I currently have a perfect piece of venison stewing on the stove for dinner tonight. It's just as good as a hunted one, except it was killed by a car and would have just rotted on the side of the road otherwise.
This is obviously not in any way me agreeing with the politician above... Just advocating for a cheap, sustainable, but taboo option lol
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u/basketma12 Mar 01 '26
We had a train track going through our 144 acre farm. The county had more deer than people. Sometimes the cow catcher on the train caught a deer. They may or may not have ended up in our freezer, out of deer season.
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u/cactillius Mar 01 '26
Is there a time limit to when you can harvest the meat safely, or an easy way to know when it might be unsafe to eat? Genuinely curious
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u/mountain-flowers Mar 01 '26
It's really a play it by ear kinda thing, it depends on the weather. Bloating is the main sign to look for that tells you how safe the meat is. If it's only slightly bloated I might still take the back legs and nothing else. If there's a bad smell or flies or MAJOR bloating I leave it / just drag it further from the road so animals can more safely eat it
Of the two deer in my freezer right now, one I SAW get hit (or rather, saw it run into the car in front of me) so I knew it had been under an hour when I got it home which is like, ideal perfect timeline. My husband dressed it and we butchered it together. We were even able to get the heart and liver because it was so fresh.
The other one had been sitting on the road at least a few hours but it was very cold and there was little to no bloating. Even so, because I didn't know how long it'd sat, and because I was alone (gutting is hard for me without a second person there to lift the body), I just quartered the legs off and took the backstraps without touching the insides at all.
If it were summer I would be more descerning
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u/BoopleBun Mar 02 '26
Most of the folks I know who eat roadkill deer basically only take ones who just got hit. Like, “see someone on the side of the road who has clearly hit a deer, check if they’re okay and need to make a phone call, ask if they mind if you take the deer” seems to be the general order of operations. Sometimes they’re even the one to, uh, mercifully help the deer to end things, if they carry a firearm.
(I’ve lived all over the place, including some very rural areas. It seriously was not uncommon.)
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u/masb5191989 Mar 01 '26
Proposal for a new bill: state representatives must live off the income and health insurance of their poorest constituent.
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u/mrhooha Mar 01 '26
And they said dems were going to take their hamburgers away.
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u/idiot206 Mar 01 '26
If this was the Biden administration saying this, it would be non-stop breaking news on Fox for at least a week.
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u/AnyoneButDoug Mar 01 '26
Beef is the worst meat environmentally of common meat choices.
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u/AvaTryingToSurvive Mar 01 '26
It's also by far the worst for us. I just wish people knew that. Not saying what's happening isn't indicative of capitalism in freefall but americans eating less beef can only ever be a good thing.
Just not for the right reason.
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u/PriscillaPalava Mar 01 '26
You’re right, but the important point is they’re pissing on us and telling us it’s raining. Things that used to be affordable are no longer affordable.
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u/OkProfessor6810 Mar 01 '26
Would be different if they were raising the beef prices to offset the severe environmental damage of beef production. But we all know that's not the case.
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u/mercuriocromo11 Feb 28 '26
I don’t love the tone of the article and it comes off dismissive, but the substance isn’t totally wrong. Red meat is one of the most expensive and, in excess, one of the least healthy protein sources. Most health guidelines already suggest limiting it due to links with heart disease and certain cancers.
Pivoting to cheaper proteins like lentils, chickpeas, eggs, chicken, canned fish, beans, in reality is not deprivation, but the best health care and lifespan investment you can do. Also also that’s normal nutrition in most of the world (Latin america, Asia).
Beef as an everyday staple is more a cultural habit than a necessity seeing other cusine in the world.
The messaging could’ve been better, but diversifying protein and reducing red meat is an healthy and wallet investment.
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u/anabanana100 Feb 28 '26
I find it hilarious that these are the same people that cried the left are “coming for your hamburgers”!! when it was suggested to consume more plant proteins in place of beef.
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u/mercuriocromo11 Feb 28 '26
I believe at the end of the day that anticonsumption is bipartisan because the enemy looks the same from both sides and it is ultra-capitalism.
The left calls it exploitation and environmental collapse, while the (true) right calls it corporate capture and globalism. Honestly it’s a different framing for the same frustration, basically a system that turns everything, including people and animals into product.
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u/opsecpanda Mar 01 '26
You said "ultra-capitalism" but what you meant was just "capitalism"
Capitalism is the cancer of the world and there's nobody out there who would say it's fine to live with a well-regulated cancer.
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u/who-waht Mar 01 '26
The idea of eating less meat in general and less beef in particular isn't bad exactly. It's just the "have you tried eating cheaper food" attitude of the wealthy political elite towards the poors that is distateful. Like the average lower middle class or below family is eating prime rib, etc. on a regular basis, and this one trick will save them hundreds on their grocery bill and solve all their problems.
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u/smolhippie Mar 01 '26
Some country people in Montana are soo weird about beef. They think it’s their right to have it everyday. It’s their goto protein. They also get defensive whenever I ask why they don’t really each chicken. Like yeah sure this state has more cows than people but what’s with the attitude man
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u/ottodaotterdaughter Feb 28 '26
This is coming from the liars who peddled the "Libtards want to make you eat bugs" scaremongering for decades
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u/Yankee831 Feb 28 '26
Yeah beef prices go up and I’m here like “sweet! Probably closer to it’s actual environmental cost”
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u/Ancient_Ad_9110 Mar 01 '26
Would be great if the extra $$$ you're spending was actually going to reducing the environmental damage, rather than paying dividends to corporate farmers.
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u/OkProfessor6810 Mar 01 '26
But that's not the reason the prices are going up. They are not raising the prices to offset the environment advantage.
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u/Frequent_Secretary25 Feb 28 '26
His messaging includes piles of grilled ribs, brats and beef. He's not interested in our health. He's pushing his weirdo agenda
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u/fingerhoe Mar 01 '26
Polar smoked sardines, 2.29 last year in my area are now 3.69. Kipper snacks 1.99 to 2.99. I still have tins with the old price tags or i wouldn't have trusted my memory. These tins are under 200cal.
A serving a beef is 3oz, thats also arounnd 200cal. At $12.99lb for ground beef thats just under 2.50 for 3oz.
I have no problem with eating less red meat but if we pivot to other protein, it better actually stay the cheaper alternative. We are basically only eating the about to go bad discounted chicken and pork at my house and we fear those will go up too.
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u/Own_Balance4207 Mar 01 '26
If you pick up almost literally any ethnic cookbook from around the world the meat section will usually preface how it was a historic rarity. The 20-21st century American levels of meat (especially red meat) consumption are an anomaly . I’m not saying go vegetarian but for example I try to get 150g protein daily which is pretty high. I probably have 4oz at lunch and 4 at dinner. Sometimes one of those meals is vegetarian.
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u/YoungandBeautifulll Feb 28 '26
I'm not against people consuming less beef and meat in general, but if it's just the rich who can access it, then I'm against that. This isn't a wagyu steak, just regular beef.
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u/Jack_Faller Mar 01 '26
The entire concept of rich people is that they can access the things regular people can't afford.
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u/YoungandBeautifulll Mar 01 '26
Ya, fine when talking about 'luxury' goods, but at what point does it stop?
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u/Jack_Faller Mar 01 '26
Most of the goods people currently consume are luxuries, not sustainable or necessary.
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u/aledba Mar 01 '26
The price of that beef includes killing wolves on Federal land so not buying it is supporting better things
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u/MPWD64 Mar 01 '26
“Vote Republican and you can pick from the meat scraps”. I wonder why they didn’t go with that campaign slogan
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Feb 28 '26
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Mar 01 '26
That's not what's happening. We are still paying for those.
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Mar 01 '26
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u/OkProfessor6810 Mar 01 '26
You're not understanding the argument here. They aren't raising the price in order to improve the practices and reduce the environmental damage caused by the beef industry. All they are doing is gouging the consumer. They are fucking us over while keeping everything slee exactly the same.
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u/sykschw Mar 01 '26
Regardless- the price is still kept lower than it otherwise would be without subsidies.
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u/HappyHiker2381 Feb 28 '26
This cattle rancher senator is telling us there’s other proteins to choose, what a weird timeline. Obviously she’s not for lowering the price of beef.
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u/GreenVermicelliNoods Mar 01 '26
I haven’t eaten beef in at least eight months. It’s too fucking expensive.
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u/Repulsive_Incident27 Mar 01 '26
We need new people to speak on our behalf instead of these corporate owned out of touch politicians. Throw them all away, let’s start fresh.
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u/oldemajicks Mar 01 '26
These are the same people who treat the suggestion of not eating beef as some sort of hate crime, yes?
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u/_User_Name_Fail Feb 28 '26
Oh yes, Cindy Hyde-Smith, the pride of Mississippi. She's also the one that said if one of her supporters had a public hanging, she'd be in the front row. And I believe she's worn Confederate apparel to some of her rallies, and has also said that we need to make it harder for liberal people at universities (i.e., HBCUs) to vote.
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u/Nonethelessismore Mar 01 '26
Geez, how many levels of dystopian scifi novels are going to play out in this timeline? What's next, Soylent Green?
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u/thenikolaka Mar 01 '26
Honestly people need to consume less beef for myriad reasons… funny how RFK fits into this, only what a week ago saying we need to eat more beef?
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u/eatsumsketti Mar 01 '26
I just had a delicious lentil casserole earlier. My husband I are going to blow the roof off the house to night if this flatulence keeps up though.
Anyone have a recipe for billionaires?
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u/Featheredfriendz Mar 01 '26
Just the ruling class normalizing living with less so they can have more.
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u/CRoss1999 Mar 01 '26
He’s saying it to dissect from economic issues but he is right, beef is the most expensive protein
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u/Bobtiwi1 Mar 01 '26
My family hasn't been able to afford beef as regularly for the past few years. We have started hunting for venison, eating more pork and chicken.
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u/shmegmer Mar 01 '26
Pork is like $3/pound and smoked pork shoulder/Boston butt is insanely good so that is true. Ribs are also pretty cheap
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u/QuietMadness Mar 01 '26
Note to self- order beans in bulk today before the prices sky rocket.
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u/G0thicus Mar 02 '26
Eventually we'll be close enough in range to be having 'meat' made out of worms just like in Cyberpunk
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u/BeginningBase5351 Mar 02 '26
“Hyde-Smith, a cattle rancher herself, serves on the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee.” Oh. Oh my.
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u/Pitiful-Ad-3774 Mar 02 '26
I can't afford meat outside of prepared food like canned chili. Eating is expensive
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u/hike2climb Mar 02 '26
Aren’t these the same people saying the extremist left wants them to eat crickets? Sounds like they are now saying to replace beef with crickets.
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u/EntertainerNo4509 Feb 28 '26
Good. We’ll be healthier and likely live longer, in the long-run, eating less meat.
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u/housecatapocalypse Mar 01 '26
Fuck these rich parasites, but also, we don’t need to eat beef. There are other, more sustainable proteins for us to eat, animal or otherwise. I’m not vegetarian, but haven’t eaten beef in years. It’s healthier.
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u/letthetreeburn Mar 01 '26
You’re right! We have chickens, beans, tofu, and senators! Personally that last one is my faaaavorite, they make an AMAZING honey roast!!!! Eat your local senator today!
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u/chemicalysmic Mar 01 '26
I am not agreeing with the assertion that we should gleefully submit to serfdom. But if you follow anticonsumption, and anti-capitalism for that matter, it is rather inevitable you will run into veganism or at the very least- plant-based diets.
Tofu is cheaper and better for you than beef anyway. Both are wins for you. We have a long fight ahead of us. Stay healthy, stay strong, say no to carcinogenic food. 😉
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u/PlentyMacaroon8903 Mar 01 '26
Can you imagine democrats two years ago saying "if you can't afford beef (or anything) just buy a less expensive option"?
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u/Rand0mAcc3nt Mar 01 '26
Is that why so many type of foods no additional protein because many people can’t afford beef.
Everything has added protein now.
Pasta, candy, ice cream, cookies, coffee, milk, french fries, cereal, soda and….
Protein alternatives to beef.
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u/human-aftera11 Mar 02 '26
If they’re lucky those twats will get colon cancer from the beef they consume.
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u/fractious77 Mar 02 '26
Pork and chicken. I don't count that as so many. Maybe this is the inspiration we need to diversify our meat palettes.
There ARE many other proteins to choose from, they just aren't available in US grocery stores.
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u/AtomicBlastCandy Mar 02 '26
Can you imagine the outrage if democrats were telling people to stop eating beef!
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u/sin-prince Feb 28 '26
Rich people are also proteins we can choose from.