Introduction
Fox News expressed alarm on April 24 over the idea of celebrating the Fourth of July with “plant-based beer” and “grilled brussels sprouts,” framing environmental consciousness as a direct assault on American values and masculinity.
Lauren Boebert, a Congress member known for her radical right views, support of gun rights, and adherence to Q-Anon theories, claimed on Twitter that President Joe Biden’s climate initiatives would drastically reduce Americans’ red meat consumption by 2030, demanding Biden “stay out of her kitchen.” This sentiment played into fears of governmental overreach and challenged traditional gender norms, painting vegetarians, including Biden, as lacking in authentic American masculinity. Such rhetoric was echoed by figures like Larry Kudlow, a Fox Business host and former advisor to President Trump, who falsely suggested the Green New Deal would ruin Fourth of July celebrations and barbecue traditions, using thinly veiled racist language.
In a show of defiance, right-wing supporters inundated social media with images of unseasoned meat, celebrating their carnivorous preferences alongside American beer, echoing the NRA’s defiant stance on gun ownership. In contrast, liberal social media users mocked the right’s misunderstanding of beer’s plant origins and their culinary preferences, highlighting a broader disregard for the environmental benefits of reducing meat consumption.
Meat as a Political Statement
These incidents are part of a broader pattern of Republican strategies that vilify vegetarianism and environmental efforts, drawing parallels with previous campaigns against healthcare reforms and perpetuating myths about a war on traditional American values. The narrative centers around a rugged American masculinity that is under threat from liberal policies, using meat as a symbol of working-class toughness and national pride. This discourse contrasts “authentic” American foods with the perceived elitism of liberal dining preferences, framing large portions of simple, overcooked meat as a rebellion against “liberal food snobbery.”
Gender Norms and Dietary Choices
The right-wing fascination with meat as a cornerstone of masculinity, opposed to veganism or vegetarianism often stereotyped as feminine, plays into broader societal discussions about gender roles and national identity. The Paleo diet, for instance, is touted by some as a return to a natural, premodern lifestyle, despite its founder’s controversial views. Similarly, the tradwife movement romanticizes a nostalgic, racially pure vision of femininity centered around homemaking and submission to male authority, linking dietary choices to political and racial ideologies.
Conclusion
Food has become a battleground for cultural and political identity, with the right using dietary choices as symbols of resistance against liberal policies and a defense of traditional American and gender norms. The dichotomy between meat-eating as a symbol of masculinity and environmental or health-conscious diets as threats to this identity reflects deeper societal divides. Both mainstream Republican rhetoric and the tradwife movement utilize food to frame political debates, translating environmental and gender issues into a broader cultural war over American values and identity.