Editing Meat (section)

=== Historical ===

A [[Bioarchaeology|bioarchaeological]] (specifically, [[isotopic analysis]]) study of [[early medieval England]] found, based on the funerary record, that high-meat protein diets were extremely rare, and that (contrary to previously held assumptions) elites did not consume more meat than non-elites, and men did not consume more meat than women.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Leggett |first1=Sam |last2=Lambert |first2=Tom |date=2022 |title=Food and Power in Early Medieval England: a Lack of (Isotopic) Enrichment |journal=Anglo-Saxon England |volume=49 |pages=155–196 |doi=10.1017/S0263675122000072 |s2cid=257354036 |doi-access=free|hdl=20.500.11820/220ece77-d37d-4be5-be19-6edc333cb58e |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

In the nineteenth century, meat consumption in Britain was the highest in Europe, exceeded only by that in British colonies. In the 1830s consumption per head in Britain was about {{convert|75|lb|kg|order=flip}} a year, rising to {{convert|130|lb|kg|order=flip}} in 1912. In 1904, laborers consumed {{convert|87|lb|kg|order=flip}} a year while aristocrats ate {{convert|300|lb|kg|order=flip}}. There were some 43,000 butcher's shops in Britain in 1910, with "possibly more money invested in the meat industry than in any other British business" except finance.<ref name="Otter 2020">{{cite book |last1=Otter |first1=Chris |title=Diet for a large planet |date=2020 |publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]] |location=USA |isbn=978-0-226-69710-9 |pages=28, 35, 47}}</ref>  The US was a meat importing country by 1926.<ref name="Otter 2020"/>

Truncated lifespan as a result of intensive breeding allows more meat to be produced from fewer animals. The world cattle population was about 600 million in 1929, with 700&nbsp;million sheep and goats and 300&nbsp;million pigs.<ref name="Otter 2020"/>