Moderating Contentious Care Relations: Meat Consumption among Finnish Consumers

Abstract

In the Global North, meat consumption is both an integral part of everyday diets and under increasing pressure to be reduced, owing to its various harmful effects. There has been much research on the issues that forestall less meat-dominated diets. Based on interview and participant observation data of consumers with a wide variety of meat relations in Finland, this article extends these discussions by framing the issue as navigating contentious relations of care. This enables a two-fold contribution. First, the article brings together previously disconnected research on these themes and makes explicit the benefits of studying meat consumption through care. Second, it demonstrates how this approach contributes an understanding of the persistence of meat on our plates, by showing how contentious care relations within meat consumption are navigated through moderation: varying degrees of engagement with care, defined by distances and realignments as well as disconnections in the processes of caring.