“If They Don’t Have Meat, Let Them Eat Broccoli!”

My wife is a vegetarian. It's not a horrible diet, but if I was forced to eat only vegetables as Hidalgo seems to be planning, I'd rise up in revolt!

From The European Conservative

By Hélène de Lauzun, PhD

The world of ecology, because it is above all an ideological construct, is hopelessly devoid of flavour.

In Paris, visitors to the Games have already been able to experience, with varying degrees of success, the merits of beetroot falafels, offered at the stalls in the Olympic Village on Place de la Concorde in place of French gastronomy. But the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, had no intention of stopping there. Now it’s her own employees who are being put on bread and water, or just about it: vegetarian meals are gradually being introduced in the city’s canteens. Some stomachs don’t seem too happy about taking part in the great climate battle in this way, and the revolt is growing.

The move is part of the 2022-2027 Sustainable Food Plan, which calls for the municipality’s food supply to be “100% sustainable, 75% organic, 50% local.” Don’t ask her what the remaining percentages correspond to; Anne Hidalgo is not very good with figures. The aim is to reduce the “environmental impact” of catering by “reducing greenhouse gas emissions.” Steak pollutes, as we all know. So steaks must go.

Anne Hidalgo must not be aware of the studies showing that if a cow eats grass in a meadow, its carbon footprint can be zero, or even negative. Fortunately, scientists have looked into the matter and, in 2024, came to the astonishing conclusion that a cow eating grass in a meadow is actually environmentally friendly. So there you have it. Let’s close the parenthesis and return to Paris, where Madame Hidalgo is sticking to the idea that steak is the enemy of the planet.

In the municipal canteens, city hall employees have to make do, two days a week, with specialities such as ‘croque-monsieur végétal’, ‘vegetable chili’ and ‘gratin de brocolis.’

More than 50,000 people are on this diet—the taste and energy qualities of which have yet to be demonstrated. The city employees include white-collar workers who have nothing better to do than sluggishly type away at their computers in overheated offices, and who are certainly delighted to be doing their bit for the environment. But there’s also a whole cohort of hard-working gardeners, sweepers, and other workers who do physical jobs outdoors, and who need fuel for their machines as well as their stomachs. Go ahead and explain to them that they need to fuel up with a portion of bulgur or corn. It doesn’t add up, and they’re clamouring for the return of steak-frites or cordon bleu—that little breaded calorie bomb stuffed with ham and cheese. How understandable.

Ecology has a lot to answer for. Promoting meat-free meals is one of the latest tricks the Left has up its sleeve, so that it can seemingly offer Islamo-compatible meals devoid of any trace of bacon. Political correctness advances masked, hidden behind a head of broccoli. The CFTC, a Christian trade union, denounced a dictatorial policy that deprives workers of a free choice of menu—a luxury that is disappearing. The main opposition group to Hidalgo, Changer Paris, is also outraged by the loss of freedom brought about by the municipal policy.

Why not offer a veggie alternative, but leave rump steak lovers with something to sink their teeth into? The reason is simple: the Left loves to make people feel guilty and give them moral lessons at every turn. This gives the poor sweeper who has been condemned to eating bulgur and corn plenty of time to meditate, in front of his lunch tray, on his odious responsibility for the planetary collapse that awaits him in a few years’ time if he persists in his love of minced beef. He’ll look great when sea levels have risen so much that we’ll be windsurfing on the Seine! As he placidly chews his vegetable proteins, he consoles himself by thinking about the fact that he is helping to save Gaia in his humble way.

A perverse effect of the measure that city hall did not anticipate: those whose ecological conscience is too lazy may well desert the municipal canteens and go back to the local café or restaurant, even if it costs them a little more.

Audrey Pulvar, the former journalist and socialist deputy mayor in charge of “sustainable food,” maintains that the protein content of these veggie menus has been carefully studied to ensure that hard-working people get what they want. But like all the people in her caste, she forgets one essential factor. Protein intake isn’t everything, there’s also taste. How can people in the land of blanquette de veau and entrecôte béarnaise prefer the consistency of chickpea pasta? The world of ecology, because it is above all an ideological construct, is hopelessly devoid of flavour, and that’s why it has such difficulty convincing more than a few circles of indoctrinated activists.

City hall claims to have received only 40 complaints to date, and to have observed no significant drop in canteen use. But beware: in Paris, we know that the revolution sometimes begins on the plate.

Photo: congerdesign de Pixabay