We talk about creating scenarios where people reduce their meat intake. Without those incentives, reducing meat consumption will be difficult to impose. But in Argentina, a land known for its meat, there is reportedly one grocery store that has come up with some creative suggestions.
Though the store's intentions may be more aligned with helping out a butcher down the street, at least that is what the woman who told me the story noted, these ideas can help us out in the Northern Hemisphere.
I met the young woman in Banff. She was visiting her family in Edmonton but lives in Argentina. I could not confirm the details she told me, but have no reason to think that this isn't true.
She is a vegetarian living in Argentina. That in itself sparked some mild laughter, given Argentina (and Alberta's) reputation for beef and beef consumption. So she buys more vegetables than your typical Argentinian person.
She told me that this grocery store offers 50% off on vegetables on Thursdays. She also told me that you could get 15% off your bill if you had no meat in your cart.
Often in grocery sales here in the States, when you see something marked down, sometimes you wonder about the quality of said food. Hopefully, people are getting good quality for 50% off. If a society isn't shopping much for vegetables, a store can drive traffic to buy other food, including meat.
A 15% discount for a cart without meat would seem pretty easy with a good freezer. After all, meat will keep well in the freezer for awhile. So you can buy all meat and get 0% discount. And then go back later and get everything else to get a 15% discount.
Still in a meat-intensive society, getting people to think about meat in a different fashion is innovative. People often respond to financial incentives. In the States, where meat is cheap, people still complain about the cost of meat, and they would respond well to financial incentives.
Bribing people to reduce their meat intake, given the low price of meat, seems like a cheap way of getting people to eat less meat. Good. People who think the government tells people what to eat, even if companies really do this, need a different approach.
This isn't about not eating meat, just less meat than what we are eating right now.
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