Amber Husain was cooking dinner for a friend when she suddenly realised the meat she was preparing was a corpse. She looked at the chicken in front of her and was overcome with a visceral sense of disgust. Instead of food, she saw “a carcass – plucked, beheaded, and fleshy”. Husain was 26 when she had this epiphany, and it served as a wake-up call not just for her stomach but her mind, too – as her personal tastes shifted away from meat products, her political outlook on the meat industry and food production more broadly also altered and expanded. Five years later, that moment of revulsion forms the opening of her new book, Meat Love, in which she scrutinises the idea of “ethical” meat consumption, and dares to ask how the contemporary middle classes have come to criticise “the worst violence against animals” while still happily feeding on their flesh. Why, for example, has well-heeled, middle-class London gone nuts for slurping bone marrow from the shin bones of baby cows? Why is offal on so many trendy menus? How has contemporary culture at large come to accept that factory farms are monstrous, but that if animals are cared for, cherished and loved while alive, we should feel better about killing them for our carnivorous pleasures? “For ages, I was one of those carnivores who felt mildly bad about eating meat but just turned that into this inane, self-consciously sadistic part of the pleasure of it all,” Husein tells me. “The more my diet started to revolve around stuff that wasn’t meat, the weirder meat started to feel. Interestingly, once my stomach had been radicalised, I found I had a much greater intellectual openness to thinking about the politics of meat.” Having freed herself from the conflict of eating meat but also feeling bad about it, she found she was able to go beyond those questions of morality – which she suggests can be “stifling” – and think politically. “Now that I have no desire to eat animals, there’s nothing to stop me reckoning with what it means that the meat industry [consists of] an underclass of both humans and animals who are exploited and – in the animals’ case – killed for pleasure and profit.” This is the essential crux of Husain’s argument, and it’s something often lacking in discussions around the “ethics” of meat consumption. For Husain, the question is not, “how can humans eat meat responsibly?” but “how are certain lives devalued to an extent that their suffering can be written off, in order to ‘make a killing’?” What she’s saying, in other words, is that whether the meat on the table has come from a factory farm or an organic farm, or whether you’re tucking in at Burger King or the River Cafe, the path to the plate is still paved with violence. And, while current cultural trends may claim it is better to love and respect an animal before killing and consuming it, perhaps what this cultivates is the ability to embrace exploitation “in a spirit of virtuous indulgence”. What does it really mean, for all living beings, if love is imagined as compatible with killing? “To slide your buttery hand between the flesh and skin of a thing that, if only for a moment, you have re-learnt to perceive as a corpse, is to give an invigorating massage to your sense of political possibility,” Husain writes in Meat Love. By the slim book’s end, her invigorated “sense of political possibility” has led to “a ravenous hunger – a desire for a different culture, a different society”; a new world “in which no one, neither animal, immigrant, worker, woman, or peasant, was considered a thing to be owned, controlled, killed, or left to die”. For many, the leap from a chicken breast on a plate to the exploitation of oppressed people around the globe might seem like a vast one. Yet, it certainly seems clear that there has been a marked shift in the way meat is conceived and consumed – among the middle classes, at least. Since the turn of the millennium, foodie figures like Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall have been promoting “seasonal, ethically produced food” as part of a broader commitment to caring for the environment. At the same time, a distinctly carnivorous spirit has taken hold – one that professes to be an “honest”, “grounded” and “down to earth” ethos. “Good food, good eating, is all about blood and organs, cruelty and decay,” Anthony Bourdain wrote at the start of the 1999 New Yorker article that would, eventually, catapult him into global foodie fame. I find it easy to laugh at Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and people like that, but I’m not totally convinced that they’re really the bad guys Lewis Bassett Then there’s Fergus Henderson and St John – the illustrious London restaurant, born in 1994 on the premises of a former bacon smokehouse, which popularised “nose to tail” dining. This offal-centric “no waste” approach is neatly summed up in Henderson’s oft-quoted phrase: “If you’re going to kill the animal, it seems only polite to use the whole thing.” Traditionally “cheap cuts” are “elevated” from a source of sustenance for the working classes, to a source of virtue for the urban bourgeois. According to its own cookbook, St John dishes combine “high sophistication with peasant roughness” – that winning aesthetic formula that also sees middle-class urbanites flocking to farmers’ markets and chugging natural wine. In a sharp and searing piece for food and culture newsletter Vittles, writer Sheena Patel dubs this “Rich Person Peasantcore”, asking: “Why are these influencers pretending that they themselves till the land and eat like 17th-century French peasants when in fact their chopping boards cost more than most people’s rent?” In the face of swathes of small plates adorned with offal, and slices of ham served for upwards of £20, it seems like a pertinent question not just for influencers, but also for today’s trendiest restaurateurs and diners. Lewis Bassett is a chef and the host of The Full English podcast, which, over its two seasons, has dived into everything from the birth of “modern European” cuisine to high food prices, factory farms, and why Britain is in love with Greggs. “It’s interesting the way we create these fantastical worlds for us to eat within,” he says. “It is clearly a fantasy to imagine that you can have the rural experience of a peasant in France or Italy, in modern-day Britain.” Yet, he also says that this trend is far from new. The current “rustic” style – typified by “nose to tail eating” – is, he suggests, “intimately tied with what you could call a culinary and broader cultural movement that appears in the wake of countercultural movements in the Sixties, and eventually finds its way into food, especially as some of those countercultural people get a bit older and a bit more affluence”. Essentially, “it’s the same thing that manifested in places like Habitat,” he says, of the homewares and furnishings brand founded in 1964 by Terence Conran. Both design and dining were transformed, offering experiences to the middle classes that were both refined and casual at the same time. Alongside that cultural shift, and “that fashion for pared-down forms of eating out”, Bassett notes the arrival of a broader awareness of environmental and animal welfare concerns. “It’s obviously easy to ridicule these middle-class forms of culture,” he says, “but these concerns are ones I certainly share and I think should be considerations for everyone. I find it easy to laugh at Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and people like that, but I’m not totally convinced that they’re really the bad guys.” So is there a danger that legitimate backlash to the “thrifty rural”, “nose to tail” trend – and bourgeois “peasantcore” more broadly – could spill over into an attack on all food industry attempts at sustainability? “I think people don’t want stuffy fine dining experiences,” Bassett says, “but at the same time, having the kind of pared-down, rustic, ‘peasant food’ – like, having ham served to you at St John costs you 20 quid – maybe people are slightly sick of that.” He quickly adds, though, that he is “not saying it can come any cheaper than 20 quid, because when you spend a lot of time and effort rearing animals properly, and paying chefs properly, and paying rents in your restaurants, that racks up”. It seems there is a tension, then, between practical and immediate ethical matters – such as paying food industry staff liveable wages or reducing food waste – and broader questions about what kind of society we wish to live in or create. Is the question of “ethical” meat consumption, as Husain suggested, “beyond morality” – a question of politics only? Or is it still, at heart, a moral dilemma, based on people’s personal sense of “right” and “wrong”? Summing up Husain’s attitude towards animals in Meat Love, Bassett suggests “she’s saying that, if you love them so much, why are you killing them? I suppose where Amber Husain and I would slightly disagree is that I’m not convinced that killing an animal is inherently wrong.” Away from the carnal appreciation and “peasantcore” of contemporary restaurant culture, meat-eating often seems to be conceived as either a “guilty pleasure” or a “grim necessity”. In all these cases, however, there appears to be an overriding sense that there is “no alternative” to a meat-eating status quo. The late cultural critic Mark Fisher famously used similar terms to define “capitalist realism”, meaning that capitalism is the only viable economic system, and thus there can be no imaginable alternative. Is it possible we’re also stuck in a kind of “carnivorous realism”? If so, it might be because the two are so interlinked. As Husain puts it, “meat is the inevitable outcome of an economic system that relies on cheap labour and cheap life. But that doesn’t mean meat is a necessity, it means a new economic order is a necessity.” Perhaps taking the leap from a vegetarian diet to full-scale social and economic revolution still seems unthinkable to many. But, in nasty, brutish and austere times, it has also perhaps never been more necessary to seriously consider who can eat, and who is made meat. “I think we need an avalanche of political will from within the food justice, land justice, climate justice and labour movements to radically transform society,” Husain says. With that as the goal, she believes it isn’t helpful “for us to be clinging to the idea of meat as a pleasure”: “If we can’t imagine something other than animal flesh to eat for dinner we might struggle to imagine an entirely different society.” ‘Meat Love: An Ideology of the Flesh’ by Amber Husain is out now Read More Between Brexit and Covid, London’s food scene has become a dog’s dinner – can it be saved? It’s time for booze bottles to have health warning labels Should I give up Diet Coke? With aspartame under suspicion, an addict speaks Food portion sizes on packaging are ‘unrealistic and confusing’, says Which? 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Few things are more satisfying than cooking up a storm on the BBQ. Whether you’re catering for a crowd or firing up for a quick midweek dinner – as the weather starts to warm up, so do our grills. BBQing used to have a somewhat basic reputation for chucking unseasoned steaks on the grill and calling it a day. However, there are worlds of possibilities when it comes to cooking over fire – for example, did you know you could even whip up a batch of chocolate chip cookies outside? New BBQ cookbooks released in preparation for summer take us all over the world with their recipes, and could even convince you to build your own grill from scratch… DJ BBQ’s Backyard Baking: 50 Awesome Recipes For Baking Over Live Fire By: David Wright, Chris Taylor and Christian Stevenson Think BBQs are just for hunks of meat? Think again. DJ BBQ’s Backyard Baking proves baking doesn’t have to be an indoor, rainy day pursuit – and can be just as delicious and as much fun over the open fire outside. This book is a collaboration from three foodies – Christian Stevenson (better known as DJ BBQ), his regular co-author Chris Taylor and baker David Wright. The trio argue both cooking over fire and baking are often seen as overly complicated pursuits that are easy to get wrong – but in this book, they set out to prove this misconception wrong. The book starts with the basics – the equipment and set-ups you’ll need, with a baking focus – and then launches into a host of technicolour recipes. Dishes range from simple crowdpleasers, such as campfire bread and chocolate chip cookies (which yes, you can bake on a BBQ, you’ll discover) to the more adventurous, including lamb kofta sausage rolls and a full Moroccan-inspired chicken dinner. There’s even a recipe for charcoal ice cream – which isn’t black like you might see on Instagram, but is full of those beautiful, smokey flavours. With DJ BBQ’s signature brand of wit and irreverence, this book will open up the worlds of possibilities within outdoor cooking. Quadrille, £20. Photography by David Loftus. Available now. The DIY BBQ Cookbook: How To Build Your Own BBQ And Cook Up A Feast By: James Whetlor This is one for the DIY enthusiasts – anyone who really wants to their hands dirty when BBQing, from start to finish. While it’s all very well and good to use a regular, shop-bought BBQ, food writer James Whetlor is a huge proponent for making your own. Why? Because shop-bought versions are often expensive, and near-impossible to cart with you on a jaunt to the beach or a day in the park. But Whetlor predominantly highlights how fun it is to make your own BBQ. You don’t have to be a DIY wizard or a building maestro to do so – some of the simplest set-ups will be hugely effective. You’ll need a few basic bits of kit for a DIY BBQ – including breeze blocks, pots, planks and chains – all of which Whetlor says is available at your local DIY store. He also urges safety – wearing work gloves and goggles when building. Whetlor gives a comprehensive guide on building your own BBQ – covering all the different options, from small versions to one that can smoke a whole pig – and there’s even an ingenious step-by-step guide for building your own tandoor oven out of a flowerpot. If you’re tentative about building your own BBQ, Whetlor’s guide is so comprehensive he’ll put any nerves at rest – and then he follows up with the best bit: what to cook on your new creation. Dishes range from vibrant veggie options – mushroom tacos and miso-marinated aubergine steaks – to meaty dishes (coconut hot wings, tandoori quail, spicy pork ribs and more). Quadrille, £20. Photography by Sam Folan. Available now. Big Green Egg Feasts: Innovative Recipes To Cook For Friends And Family By: Tim Hayward While this book is predominantly geared towards people with Green Eggs – a specific type of ceramic BBQ – don’t be put off, because the recipes will suit anyone, with any type of BBQ. The beauty of a Green Egg is it covers so many different types of cooking – you can slow-roast, wok-fry and cook pizzas on there – but you’ll just as easily be able to do that without one, be it on stove or in your oven, if it’s not a recipe that specifically calls for BBQing. If you’ve got a Green Egg, food writer Tim Hayward will take you through the best ways to use it, making sure you get the most out of this (admittedly expensive) piece of kit. But the real strength of this cookbook lies in the sheer range of recipes included from all over the world. You’ll get step-by-step guides on how to make lobster rolls from the US, Indian chicken curry, a whole rack of spiced lamb from the Maghreb region in north-west Africa and Mexican taco recipes to feed a crowd. Dishes are vibrant, colourful and will be everything you want to make this summer – with or without a BBQ. Quadrille, £30. Photography by Sam Folan. Available now. Read More These recipes will keep you hydrated on hot days Three tomato salad recipes that aren’t boring Try one of these pasta recipes this British Tomato Fortnight Uncorked: How do I keep my wine cool at a picnic? Banging brunch recipes worth getting out of bed for Think pink: Three ways with rhubarb to make the most of the season

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A “fired-up” Max Verstappen sent a warning to the rest of the grid that Red Bull are back on form as he set a searing pace to top the first two practice sessions at the Japanese Grand Prix. Verstappen’s record 10-race winning run and Red Bull’s unbeaten season came to a shuddering halt last weekend in Singapore, where the team admitted they did not understand their struggles with the car’s set-up around the street circuit. The 25-year-old was confident of a return to form around the high-speed corner track at Suzuka, where Lewis Hamilton predicted the Red Bull would be “phenomenal”, but all eyes were on the Dutchman who is closing in on a hat-trick of world titles. His response to the struggles of Singapore was immediate and emphatic, finishing 0.626 seconds clear of Ferrari’s Singapore-winner Carlos Sainz in P1 before beating Charles Leclerc by 0.320sec in P2. Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said: “He dealt with (Singapore) very maturely. “It was a difficult weekend but he raced very hard. It was what it was. He knew at some point we were going to get beaten and he dealt with the situation well. “He has certainly come here pretty fired up as you could see from his outlap in P1 today. “Max knew it was always going to come to an end at some point. That 10th victory meant a lot to him and certainly to the team so I’m glad Singapore wasn’t the 10th in that succession of races. I think he has just shown great leadership and great maturity.” The second session was red-flagged with a little over two minutes remaining when Pierre Gasly crashed heavily into the barriers at Degner Two, bringing a premature end to the session. McLaren had been tipped to be the closest challengers to Red Bull and Verstappen this weekend, with Mercedes’ George Russell even suggesting the British team could be favourites. Lando Norris showed strong pace to finish the day third, albeit 0.464sec off the pace, while Oscar Piastri, who signed a contract extension earlier this week, claimed eighth in the second McLaren. Red Bull will almost certainly clinch the Constructors’ Championship this weekend at the home race for their engine supplier Honda. But Sergio Perez was over a second off the pace of his team-mate, finishing 11th in P1 and ninth in P2. Fernando Alonso claimed sixth for Aston Martin ahead of the Williams of Alex Albon. Mercedes pair Russell and Hamilton struggled in the opening session, finishing a lowly 13th and 16th respectively, with chief race engineer Andrew Shovlin admitting the team had work to do on the car setup. Russell claimed fifth in P2 but Hamilton was only 14th, with the seven-time world champion a huge 1.141sec adrift off the pace. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Lance Stroll to sit out Singapore Grand Prix after huge crash in qualifying ‘You can forget about that’ – Max Verstappen rules out another win in Singapore Lance Stroll crashes into barrier at 110mph in Singapore Grand Prix qualifying

Finally, AI might be able to completely solve a problem for me. There are, famously,