The day before yesterday an outrage was sparked off in France. The reason is one decision, of one mayor, in the city of Lyon alone, to only temporarily stop serving children, only some types of animals’ corpses and during school lunches only.

Despite that the decision is not of a total meat-free diet – for example by closing down all the city’s butcher shops and banning all the meat from all the other stores that sell animal flesh – but only regards to school lunches, and despite that it is not really a meat-free menu, as fishes will be offered as usual (if not more than usual, because ‘the children need to consume animals to grow well’ as the Agriculture Minister said in response, as well as asking the region’s administrator, who is the state-appointed top local official, to overrule the decision), and despite that it is definitely not an exploitation-free menu as eggs and milk products will be served as usual, and despite that Lyon’s Mayor Gregory Doucet said that the motivation behind that decision is solely due to the health crisis as it allows the service to be streamlined and quickened amid coronavirus restrictions, members of the French government claimed that the decision insults French butchers and Lyon’s famous culinary reputation, and harms the health of children. Continue reading →