新鮮事：人造肉越來越火，但背後的金錢交易可能大過健康意義

人造肉越來越火，但背後的金錢交易可能大過健康意義

素食肉的風潮如今越來越火，各大餐飲品牌也紛紛推出素食肉的產品。

這當然得到了素食主義者的廣泛叫好，也掀起了新的素食熱。

但是，你真的瞭解素食這一生活方式在營養方面的利與弊嗎？你又是否知道，像這樣的飲食變革，其實往往是金錢推動的政治活動呢？

圖片來源：圖蟲創意

If you were to believe newspapers and dietary advice leaflets, you’d probably think that doctors and nutritionists are the people guiding us through the thicket of what to believe when it comes to food. But food trends are far more political—and economically motivated—than it seems.

如果你相信報紙和飲食推薦的傳單，你可能會認爲，關於飲食，我們應該相信醫生和營養學家們的指導。但是，飲食潮流比表面看上去更具政治性，也更有經濟推動力。

From ancient Rome, where Cura Annonae—the provision of bread to the citizens—was the central measure of good government, to 18th-century Britain, where the econo mist Adam Smith identified a link between wages and the price of corn, food has been at the centre of the economy. Politicians have long had their eye on food policy as a way to shape society.

從古羅馬時期起，是否能爲市民提供麪包（Cura Annonae）就是衡量一個國家是否有健全政府的核心標準，到18世紀，英國經濟學家亞當•斯密發現了工資和玉米價格之間的聯繫，食物就成爲經濟的中心。長期以來，政客們一直將制定糧食政策視爲塑造社會的一種方式。

That’s why tariffs and other trade restrictions on imported food and grain were enforced in Britain between 1815 and 1846. These “corn laws” enhanced the profits and political power of the landowners, at the cost of raising food prices and hampering growth in other economic sectors.

這就是英國於1815年至1846年間對進口食品和穀物徵收關稅並實施其他貿易限制的原因。這些“穀物法”提高了土地所有者的利潤和政治權力，代價是提高了糧食價格，也阻礙了其他經濟部門的增長。

Many of today’s food debates can also be usefully reinterpreted when seen as part of a wider economic picture. For example, recent years have seen the co-option of the vegetarian movement in a political program that can have the effect of perversely disadvantaging small-scale, traditional farming in favor of large-scale industrial farming.

如今，許多關於食品的討論可以被有效地進行重新解讀，而被視爲更廣泛的經濟形勢的一部分。例如，近年來，政治項目對素食運動的增選有利於發展大規模工業化農業，但卻不利於小規模的傳統農業。

This is part of a wider trend away from small and mid-size producers towards industrial-scale farming and a global food market in which food is manufactured from cheap ingredients bought in a global bulk commodities market that is subject to fierce competition. Consider the launch of a whole new range of laboratory created “fake meats” (fake dairy, fake eggs) in the U.S. and Europe, oft celebrated for aiding the rise of the vegan movement. Such trends entrench the shift of political power away from traditional farms and local markets towards biotech companies and multinationals.

由於激烈的競爭，全球食品市場上的食品都是用從全球大宗商品市場上購買的廉價原料生產的，因此從中小型生產商轉向大規模工業化農業已成爲大趨勢的一部分。美國和歐洲的實驗室推出的一系列全新的“人造肉”（人造奶製品、人造雞蛋）常常因促進素食運動的興起而聞名。這種趨勢使政治勢力從傳統農場和當地市場向生物技術公司和跨國公司傾斜。

Estimates for the global vegan food market now expect it to grow each year by nearly 10% and to reach around $24.3 billion by 2026. Figures like this have encouraged the megaliths of the agricultural industry to step in, having realised that the “plant-based” lifestyle generates large profit margins, adding value to cheap raw materials (such as protein extracts, starches, and oils) through ultra-processing. Unilever is particularly active, offering nearly 700 vegan products in Europe.

據估計，全球素食市場每年的增長率有望達到近10%，到2026年其市值有望達到約243億美元。這樣的數據使農業大亨們意識到可以通過高度加工使廉價的原材料（如蛋白質提取物、澱粉和油類）增值，而且“以植物爲基礎的”生活方式有巨大的利潤空間，從而促使他們介入該市場。聯合利華在該市場上尤其活躍，目前在歐洲可以提供近700種素食產品。

多知道一點

vegan movement

素食運動，是素食者推廣的一種全新生活方式。

對很多人來說，素食是一種健康的生活方式。在傳統的素食者的基礎上，新素食者應運而生。新素食者大多受過良好的教育，不爲了單一的宗教信仰而食素，他們關心動物的權利、在意自身健康，爲全球暖化而擔憂，希望通過自己的行爲喚起公衆意識覺醒。

然而在“素食”背後藏着有幾隻不容易被看見的手，也在默默推動着這一切。早在古羅馬時期，食物就被賦予了其經濟及政治意義。這層意義在現如今依然存在。大張旗鼓登場的“人造肉”，其健康意義固然不容忽視，不過背後隱藏的其他種種你看到了嗎？