1945–1960: Enjoying meat in the consumer society

Abstract

This chapter summarizes the trends in terms of meat that occurred from 1945 to 1960 and how they intertwined with the social, economic and political changes of the same period. After the years of war and meat rationing, a new enthusiasm arose for this item of food. However, this enthusiasm was soon transformed into consumerism thanks to the new liberal society and through the dominant role played by advertising during this time. Meat became, in many commercials, the ‘right food’ for the new consumerist middle class. The popularization of meat also implied a different point of view on animals. More often than in the past, the animal origins of meat were hidden and the living animals underwent a process of cutification, in order to separate meat from living beings. The chapter also looks at the commercial success of canned meat, fast food restaurants and the hamburger, whose story actually started in the 1930s but experienced its greatest success at this time. Although these changes were mostly based in the US, where this changes occurred, the chapter also investigates Britain, while in the other European countries these trends have taken place since the 1960s. The short story reflects on the social capital acquired by the new middle class consuming ‘new’ forms of meat.