I’m about to do something that is pretty close to heresy in my book; to decry meat. While I don’t eat as much meat these days as I used to, I’m still a fellow that gets wistful at the smell of roast chicken and lusty at the sound of bacon frying.

The thing is, apparently in Australia we eat about double the recommended dietary guidelines for meat consumption and eat almost three times as much meat as the world average. Yet I fear that an increasingly meat-free regimen is slowly becoming the norm in the West. For me now, meat is usually only at dinner, and often it’s more of a seasoning than anything else. So has the time come to put away all things meaty? In order to try to convince myself, here are some compelling arguments.

1. These things have eyelashes

I have to admit I am moved by the thought of all those pleading eyes and thick, batting eyelashes. Just those on the 169,000 calves, 2.1 million cows, 2.7 million sheep, 5.5 million lambs and 1.2 million pigs that we put to the sword each year to fill our bellies. (There are also 145 million chickens killed for our dinner, but as they don’t have eyelashes and lack cuteness by comparison, I struggle to empathise with them roasted. As much-abused egg-laying machines however, I am far less callous and feel their pain.)

2. It is healthier

I’m sure you’ll remember Winston J. Craig’s contribution in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, where he unveiled research that claimed vegan diets tended to be higher in dietary fibre, magnesium, folic acid, vitamin C, vitamin E and iron, and lower in calories, saturated fat and cholesterol. Let’s face it, no one is going to check your primary sources so you can claim that vegetarians are skinnier, have better cholesterol levels and lower blood pressure. Even the UK-based World Cancer Research Fund recommends we “choose mostly plant foods, limit red meat and avoid processed meat”.

3. It will save you money

We spend more on meat than we do on fruit, veg and dairy so there are savings to be made especially as we can get better value protein from legumes and beans. Oh, and from insects, but I’m not sure whether they’re classed as meat – there’s never an ethicist around when you need one.

4. It’s more sustainable

Livestock production is a huge contributor to greenhouse gas emissions with estimates reaching up to 51 per cent. Then there is the ‘cost’ in natural resources – it takes 7-10kg of cereals to grow 1kg of meat according to the UN Convention to Combat Deforestation (UNCCD). Furthermore, the UNCCD points out that while global food production growth is outstripping population growth, these extra stocks are largely being directed to meat production. Maybe we should eat less meat and use the cereals saved to feed the starving – or is that just too naive?

5. Not eating meat leaves more room for dessert
’Nuff said.