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C IL | I lived in India one summer. I think you got the two major reasons right on the head.
I would say that poverty is a major reason for low meat consumption. Not only do the poor spend an outsize portion of their income on basic foodstuffs, but the infrastructure we expect for meat consumption is not there yet (reliable refrigeration and electricity).
Also, the culture is very much into freshly prepared food as opposed to preserved things. There are open air butcher shops in the market places. Not for the squeamish.
There is a developing middle class with more relative wealth that consumes more meat. But it will take a while to build up the relative size of that middle class.
Second, There is also a generational gap on culture and religion in the Hindi population. The old village folks would never eat meat ever. The middle-aged folks who have moved to the cities would never tell their parents they eat meat, even though they do. Their children will eat meat increasingly freely, as they don't feel the same stigma. (Like drug use among the baby boomers and their children).
The majority of meat consumption is chicken. Not much pork in that tropical climate , and a definite aversion to beef, although it can be found. Mutton (goat) is the typical red meat instead, a second choice to chicken. Fish a distant third in inland areas.
Right or wrong, I'm going to guess that per capita meat consumption in countries such as India won't ever approach current american levels, and that current American Levels will decline in the future. But that's my favorite kind if speculation, which is rampant, unfettered speculation. | |
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World meat consumption per capita, and market potential
