Over the weekend of 7th – 9th July, around 2000 visitors per day flocked to the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition and, due to our prominent position on the forecourt, the public were funnelled towards Meat Your Persona, our travelling exhibit in a horsebox designed to share research about the impact of meat production and consumption on health and the environment.
Despite the extremely mixed weather, we had a wide range of fascinating conversations over the weekend which have helped to connect our researchers to how the public views many of the key issues around the impacts of consuming meat. The team from LEAP and the Sustainable and Healthy Food Group reported a range of interesting discussions with visitors, with a new emphasis emerging around concerns about meat substitutes and ultra-processed food.
A special mention should go to Elisa Becker, who delivered a lightening talk, ‘The Meat of the Matter: Can We Choose to Reduce Our Meat Consumption?’. This was so well attended that that the room quickly reached capacity and some visitors had to be turned away. Elisa also fielded lively questions, including some on the relative impact of vegetarian and vegan diets.
Thank you to all our researchers and volunteers and particularly to Rachel Ashwanden and her team for managing the logistics.
Researchers at the end of the day, in front of the Meat Your Persona horsebox