A VEGETARIAN doesn't eat meat, a pescatarian eats seafood but not other meat, but what about a bettertarian?
Being a ‘bettertarian’ is a new food philosophy launched this week by Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA), which it says recognises the importance of making informed food choices.
The campaign's launch comes in the same week as 'Meat Free Week' - a national campaign supported by animal rights group Voiceless, linked to changing perceptions about the treatment of intensively farmed animals.
Queensland LNP MP George Christensen is also running a counter-campaign, 'Free Meat Week', which has the backing of the Cattle Council of Australia and Sheepmeat Council of Australia.
“When Aussie farmers and graziers are doing it so tough, a drive to convert people to vegetarianism is just un-Australian,” Mr Christensen said.
In a statement, MLA’s Australian marketing manager Lachlan Bowtell said the 'bettertarian' campaign had been developed in response to growing consumer confusion about how to make the most responsible food choices.
Its slogan is: "Eat with understanding. Make better choices. Feel better for it".
Mr Bowtell said the bettertarian philosophy was something everyone could get behind, and encouraged "producers, the wider industry and all beef and lamb lovers to help spread the word through their social media networks, particularly now during Meat Free Week.”
Just a day into the campaign's launch, the #Bettertarian hash tag on Twitter was receiving good support.
“This week we are helping people to navigate the confusion and the guilt some groups are trying to put on them about their food choices," he said.
“Through our Target 100 program and the bettertarian campaign, the industry is focused on continuing to build the trust that people have in the Australian beef and lamb industry to sustainably manage the environment and care for our animals while producing highly nutritious food."
The bettertarian philosophy came about after chef and television personality Darren Robertson and sustainable food advocate, Rebecca Sullivan, took three urban Australians on a journey to a cattle and sheep farm in Tasmania, to see first hand how meat was raised and produced.
Mr Robertson said the bettertarian philosophy was about keeping the message simple.
“Eating today can seem a bit complicated. There are endless food ideologies and too many confusing messages, rules and restrictions for achieving optimal health and nutrition and minimising your impact on the planet. There had to be a simpler way,” he said.
“It’s how we arrived at the bettertarian - a person who is a conscious consumer who wants to feel better about what they eat and the impact their food choices have on the environment.”
Bangor Farm in Tasmania is owned and operated by fifth-generation cattle and sheep producer, Matt Dunbabin, who has been an active advocate for the industry through Target 100, and welcomed the chance to help promote the new philosophy to urban Australians.
“For our city visitors, experiencing a cattle and sheep farm first hand gave them a new perspective on the way they approach food,” he said.
“Once they saw how we worked with the environment and put the welfare of our animals at the top of our priority list, it set them on a new path of finding better ways to eat."
The farm visit provided the ideal platform to introduce the bettertarian philosophy to its first advocates and the whole experience was captured in a documentary
