Changing Diets in Asia

• Traditional Asian diets = low in meat and high in vegetables. But, due to emerging middle class, especially in China, there has been an increase in more meat and fast food.
• During 1990s: China's annual meat consumption per capita increased tenfold from 5 ->50kg.

  By 2015: China = world's biggest market for processed food
• Physical environment impacted at local and global scale.
• Livestock farming = new focus of Asian agriculture, bringing a steep rise in emissions of methane.
• Crops imported from globally to feed China's farm animals.
• Vast tracts of Amazonian rainforest have been cleared to make way for cattle ranching and soybean cultivation.
• Chinese gov is mindful of the fact that food demands will continue to increase as more escape poverty so they have embarked on a land acquisition programme in poorer countries e.g Cuba and Kazakhstan.
• Rising affluence puts pressure on particular plant and animal species if use or consumption is culturally linked with social prestige.

  • China: Shark fin soup = expensive dish traditionally consumed at weddings by those who can afford it.
  • Rising incomes = number sharks killed worldwide to meet growing demand has doubled.