The white meat consensus: food status hierarchies in the 2020s

Abstract Much research anticipates that meat, particularly red meat, has higher status than other foods, but developments in food production and consumption complicate this presumption. This article explores status negotiations of meat through go-along interviews and focus groups with a sample of socio-culturally heterogeneous omnivores in Denmark. We examine what foods omnivores consider appropriate for different eating events, what meanings the foods are ascribed, and where differences in gender and social position emerge. Our main contribution is identifying what we term the white meat consensus. The white meat consensus entails that for omnivores across social differences poultry bypasses contested meanings while having enough status to be viable for a range of dishes and events. A key tension is that the white meat consensus may simultaneously reduce red meat consumption while reinforcing meat-centered norms that hinder a shift toward plant-based diets.