AN EXTINCTION Rebellion campaigner has branded cheese racist.
Alison Plaumer has launched a petition calling for more plant-based meals to be served in schools and other venues.
She wants two days of plant-based meals to be introduced in all state-run schools and for council-run events to offer plant-based options once the pandemic is over.
Speaking at a Brighton and Hove City Council meeting back in March, Plaumer claimed there was a “racist element” to serving dairy products.
The environmental campaigner backed up her assertion by claiming a large percentage of people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds are lactose-intolerant.
"Arguably, there is a racist element to serving dairy too much because 65 per cent of the world’s population are lactose intolerant, many from the BAME (black, Asian and minority ethnic) community,” Plaumer said [via Sussex Live].
"Loads of parents around here give lots of support to this. What do children want? They want action. They want it now."
The suggestion that the serving of cheese and other dairy products could constitute racism sparked anger when discussed by broadcaster Jeremy Vine on his Channel 5 panel debate series.
It drew similar derision online, with one person writing: "If people think food is racist then they are not qualified to be near a school."
Another wrote: "I am lactose intolerant and not from the group you name so what point were you making? Food cannot be racist."
In the online petition, the Extinction Rebellion campaign quotes Professor Michael Clark from Oxford University, who said:
"Animal agriculture and fishing industries are leading causes of deforestation, ocean dead zones, water pollution, biodiversity loss and species extinction.
“Not only that, intensive animal farming poses a significant threat for the development of new pandemics and for furthered antibacterial resistance to emerge.”
Several councils in London have already stopped serving meat at council events while schools in Leeds have introduced a meat-free day and a plant-based day across 182 schools.
There are currently no plans to introduce meat-free days in schools across Ireland.
The petition closes on Sunday June 13th.
