Lessons from Other Food Movements
- David Bell
- 7 days ago
- 10 min read
Cultivarianism is a growing movement focused on eating meat produced without slaughter. This shift could eventually end animal slaughter on a global scale. This approach uses cultivated meat - grown from animal cells in controlled environments - to offer a sustainable, ethical alternative to traditional meat. Unlike veganism or vegetarianism, it doesn’t ask people to give up meat entirely but encourages them to rethink its production.
Key Takeaways from Other Food Movements:
Veganism: Expanded its appeal by focusing on health and sustainability, not just ethics. Cultivarians can use similar strategies to connect with everyday concerns like taste and cost.
Locavorism: Thrived by building strong local connections and fostering a sense of belonging. Cultivarianism can build similar ties through events, meetups, and shared advocacy.
Food Justice: Prioritised fairness and grassroots involvement. Cultivarianism can frame choosing cultivated meat as a civic action tied to creating a better food system.
Challenges:
Public understanding is still limited, and terms like "lab-grown" can discourage acceptance. Clear, positive language like "cultivated meat" is essential.
Early-stage movements face hurdles in gaining recognition and trust.
Cultivarianism combines lessons from these movements to create a fresh dietary identity. By focusing on innovation, collaboration, and ethical choices, it offers a practical way to rethink meat consumption without sacrifice.
The future of Cultivarianism depends on building awareness, engaging communities, and making cultivated meat a familiar, trusted option for consumers.
How Food Movements Build Community
A key element of any thriving food movement is its ability to provide people with a sense of identity and purpose. Labels like vegan, locavore, or Cultivarian go beyond mere descriptions - they represent shared values that create a feeling of belonging.
While facts are important, they often lack the emotional pull needed to inspire action. Instead, connecting ideas to everyday concerns - like how food tastes, its cost, or its impact on health - makes these movements more relatable and engaging for people [3].
Bringing people together, both in person and online, plays a big role too. Events like pop-up tastings or community meals offer opportunities to share sensory experiences, exchange ideas, and strengthen bonds. Digital platforms amplify these connections, enabling broader participation. The Good Food Institute, established in 2016, recognised this early on. By building a network of scientists, entrepreneurs, and advocates, they created a space for collaborative progress [4].
"We don't want to disrupt the meat industry, we want to transform it. We need their economies of scale, their global supply chain, their marketing expertise and their massive consumer base."Bruce Friedrich, President and Founder, Good Food Institute [4]
Another critical factor is procedural justice - ensuring members actively contribute to the movement rather than passively follow it. For Cultivarianism, this means offering real opportunities for people to shape the movement’s direction. The Cultivarian Society embodies this principle through its "Collaborate With Us" initiative, which connects advocates with experts and allows members to influence the evolution of its identity.
These approaches highlight how Cultivarians can create a vibrant, participatory community that thrives on shared purpose and collective action.
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1. Veganism
Veganism has shown how a movement can transform itself by shifting its focus. What started as a moral stance on animal rights and personal ethics grew into something much broader. By focusing on environmental concerns, food sustainability, and health benefits, it managed to appeal to people who might not have been swayed by ethical arguments alone [4]. Cultivarianism can take inspiration from this approach, blending ethical innovation with everyday concerns.
A major turning point came when leaders in the movement realised that simply urging people to eat less meat wasn’t working. Bruce Friedrich, President of the Good Food Institute, summed it up perfectly:
"Convincing the world to eat less meat hasn't worked... environmentalists, global health experts and animal activists have been begging the public to eat less meat. And yet, per capita meat consumption is as high as it's been in recorded history." [4]
This realisation led to a shift towards technology and market-driven solutions. Instead of asking people to give up meat, the focus moved to creating alternatives that mimic the taste and texture of meat. Since 2016, the Good Food Institute has championed this approach, fostering a network of scientists, entrepreneurs, and investors all working towards the same goal [4].
Public engagement also took a more practical route. Instead of relying on traditional awareness campaigns, the movement emphasised first-hand experiences. A great example of this came in June 2024, when UPSIDE Foods organised a "Freedom of Food Pop-Up" in Miami. Just days before a state-level ban on cultivated meat was set to take effect, Chef Mika Leon served cultivated chicken tostadas at the event. Attendees could try the food and sign a petition against the ban as part of the experience. This event turned a simple tasting into an act of political participation [2]. Cultivarianism could adopt similar strategies, using product experiences as opportunities for community engagement and shared activism.
The lesson here is clear: messaging that ties into everyday priorities like taste, affordability, and health resonates far more than ethical arguments alone. Voices that people trust - scientists, chefs, food influencers - can make a bigger impact than policy statements. By focusing on what matters most to people on a personal level, Cultivarianism can build a vibrant community that actively participates in its mission while enjoying the benefits it offers.
2. Locavorism
Locavorism brings forward a lesson centred on identity, connection to place, and trust within communities. Jessica Prentice, one of its co-founders, encapsulated this idea perfectly: "Eating not only from your place, but with a sense of place" [8]. This concept goes beyond food choices; it’s about fostering a deep sense of belonging.
The appeal of locavorism wasn’t just about cutting down on food miles for environmental reasons. It thrived because it created personal connections between producers and consumers. Farmers' markets and farm visits became more than transactions - they built relationships. The "100-mile challenge" became a tangible way for people to engage with the philosophy, turning an abstract idea into a daily practice [8].
Language played a pivotal role in the movement's growth. The term "locavore" gained widespread recognition, even becoming Oxford Word of the Year in 2007. This milestone marked its shift from a niche idea to mainstream awareness [8]. A single, compelling word gave people a way to articulate their values and identity, much like how "Cultivarian" now represents another distinct dietary and ethical choice. This choice is often highlighted when comparing cultivated and traditional meat production.
Community-building was another cornerstone of locavorism. Take the Local Food Hub in Charlottesville, Virginia, as an example. Founded in 2009, it brought together produce from over 70 farms and distributed it to more than 150 locations - including schools, hospitals, and nursing homes - by 2011 [8]. This model of shared infrastructure and collaboration shows how a values-driven movement can grow while staying true to its principles. It’s a blueprint that Cultivarianism can adopt, using local events and shared advocacy to create similar bonds.
Cultivarianism has the potential to create these local connections in its own way. Through initiatives like The Cultivarian Society's meetups, community gatherings, and advocacy efforts, it can evoke the same sense of belonging that farmers' markets brought to locavores. The aim isn’t just to influence dietary habits - it’s to build a community and identity that people feel proud to be part of.
3. Food Justice
Food justice is grounded in the belief that access to nutritious food is a fundamental right. Its foundation rests on three key principles: distributive justice (fair access to resources), procedural justice (inclusive decision-making), and recognitive justice (respect for diverse identities and histories). At its core, this approach thrives on grassroots leadership, where solutions are developed in collaboration with the communities most affected. This builds trust and fosters change driven by the people themselves.
This approach has led to meaningful structural shifts. Take Brazil's National School Feeding Programme, for example. It mandates that 30% of school meal budgets are spent on produce from family farms. By 2023, 57% of the programme’s participants in Brazil’s northern region were farmers from Indigenous or traditional communities [10]. This is a powerful example of how community involvement can drive systemic change.
Building trust, however, requires more than polished words. It demands honesty and a willingness to confront uncomfortable truths. As Raj Patel aptly put it:
"Race, class, and history aren't foodie strong-points. Yet to turn the food movement into one that fully embraces justice, some difficult discussions lie ahead." [9]
Food justice also reframes dietary choices as civic actions - expressions of the kind of world people want to create. Independent researcher Elta Smith highlights this perspective:
"Justice isn't simply a goal to arrive at, but rather what makes transformation possible in the first place." [10]
This perspective offers a roadmap for rethinking meat consumption as a matter of civic responsibility.
For Cultivarianism, choosing cultivated meat is a deliberate act of citizenship. It aligns with values like animal welfare, environmental care, and a forward-thinking food system. By embracing these principles, Cultivarianism goes beyond food - it becomes a movement rooted in shared ethics and collective progress, demonstrating that what’s on the plate is deeply connected to the world we wish to build.
The Cultivarian Society takes a fresh approach to food ethics, presenting cultivated meat as an ethical option rather than imposing dietary restrictions. Founded by David Bell, the Society introduces the "Cultivarian" identity - individuals who choose real meat grown from animal cells without the need for animal slaughter. As they explain:
"We're not vegan, not vegetarian, and not asking anyone to give up meat. We're Cultivarian." [5]
Instead of advocating for abstinence, the Cultivarian movement focuses on changing the source of meat, not eliminating it. Their mission is grounded in hard facts and safety standards: around 92 billion land animals are slaughtered for food every year, while, as of 2026, there are 259 companies globally producing cultivated meat [5]. These figures highlight the ethical and environmental motivations behind the Society's efforts.
The Society fosters a sense of community through newsletters, meetups, and online discussions. They’re also working to establish "Cultivarian" as a recognised dietary identity, standing alongside terms like veganism and flexitarianism, while also shaping the broader conversation around food and ethics.
When it comes to regulation, the Society has been vocal. They’ve criticised certain policies as "food policing" designed to protect existing industry interests [2]. This aligns with the food justice movement's approach, framing food choices as a way to advocate for a better food system.
What sets the Cultivarian Society apart is its inclusive ethos. It welcomes meat-eaters to maintain their usual diets while supporting an ethical alternative. By offering a new identity, the Society provides a path for those who believe in the idea of meat without slaughter, envisioning a future rooted in compassion and innovation.
Pros and Cons
Each of these four movements brings its own strengths to the table, but they also face challenges. Knowing where they excel and where they fall short helps when thinking about how to build a lasting food movement.
Movement | Community Strength | Main Weakness | Policy & Visibility |
Veganism | Strong moral identity; dedicated, passionate base [4] | High attrition; perceived as restrictive or "preachy" [4] | High visibility through activism; limited impact on total meat consumption [7] |
Locavorism | Deep local ties; appeals to heritage and "naturalness" [7] | Hard to scale beyond local or regional communities [7] | Influences local food systems; minimal national or global policy reach [7] |
Food Justice | Broad coalition-building; addresses systemic inequalities | Fragmented focus can dilute messaging | Strong grassroots advocacy; variable policy outcomes |
Cultivarianism | Inclusive; no dietary sacrifice required [5] | Early-stage; limited public recognition as yet | Emerging voice; facing regulatory headwinds in some regions [3] |
These comparisons highlight how each movement’s strengths and weaknesses shape its impact on the food system. Veganism, for example, has a clear ethical stance that attracts highly committed supporters. However, its rigid image can alienate those who find it too restrictive or moralistic [4]. Locavorism, on the other hand, thrives on its strong local connections and appeal to heritage, but its influence is often confined to specific regions, rarely extending to national or global policy [7].
Cultivarianism takes a different path with its inclusive, no-sacrifice-needed approach, making it easier for people to engage. However, public understanding of this movement is still in its infancy. One key challenge is how it’s communicated. Research shows that terms like "lab-grown" or "Frankenfoods" can significantly lower public acceptance compared to more positive language like "cultivated" or "slaughter-free" [3]. This makes clear and consistent terminology a crucial part of the Cultivarian Society’s efforts to define its identity - far more than just a branding issue.
Conclusion
Veganism highlights a strong sense of ethical responsibility, locavorism emphasises the importance of local connections, and food justice showcases the power of collective action. Together, these ideas offer a fresh perspective that focuses on progress rather than sacrifice.
Building on these principles, Cultivarianism reimagines meat consumption with a focus on innovation and inclusivity. As David Bell, founder of The Cultivarian Society, explains:
"Being a Cultivarian means choosing cultivated meat over slaughtered meat for yourself and the future. It's a mindset, not a menu." [1]
This approach invites meat-eaters who are concerned about factory farming to embrace change without having to give up meat entirely.
In the UK, recent polling indicates growing acceptance of cultivated meat as people become more familiar with it, especially when they encounter these products in everyday contexts [3].
Using clear, species-specific terms like "cultivated beef" helps consumers better understand these products and avoids confusion. Seth Roberts of GFI Europe stresses this point:
"Appropriate nomenclature and labelling can play an important role in supporting consumer understanding of cultivated meat and ingredients." [6]
Establishing consistent terminology is crucial for building trust and creating a recognisable identity.
While still in its infancy, The Cultivarian Society is laying the groundwork for a lasting movement. By defining language, fostering community, and shaping public discourse, it follows the path of other successful food movements. The next step is to build momentum by involving trusted figures like independent scientists and chefs [3], reaching undecided consumers, and making Cultivarianism a familiar and approachable concept. By blending ethical principles, local connections, and forward-thinking ideas, Cultivarianism combines the strengths of past movements into a modern culinary philosophy.
FAQs
How is cultivated meat made?
Cultivated meat is created by extracting cells from a living animal and nurturing them in a sterile, carefully monitored setting. These cells are placed in bioreactors and supplied with a nutrient-rich medium, which includes ingredients such as glucose and amino acids. Over time, the cells develop into muscle, fat, and connective tissue. These components are then processed to mimic the flavour, texture, and nutritional profile of conventional meat - all without the need for animal slaughter.
Is cultivated meat safe and regulated in the UK?
Cultivated meat hasn’t hit UK shelves yet. Regulatory bodies like the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and Food Standards Scotland (FSS) are working on a framework to guarantee its safety and compliance. In the UK, all novel foods must undergo a thorough and independent safety assessment before they can be approved. Once given the green light, cultivated meat will be subject to the same stringent food safety regulations as traditional foods, ensuring clear standards and maintaining consumer trust.
How can I help build the Cultivarian community locally?
Get involved in your community by organising or attending local meetups, food tastings, or even online discussions about cultivated meat. Share your perspective as someone who enjoys meat but opposes traditional slaughter methods. Honest and open conversations can go a long way in breaking down barriers.
When engaging, emphasise empathy. For example, connect with familiar traditions like Sunday roasts, showing how cultivated meat can fit seamlessly into cherished family meals. Highlight its benefits without being dismissive of people's attachments to these traditions.
To strengthen your efforts, make use of resources provided by The Cultivarian Society. Partnering with local chefs or community leaders can also help you build trust and make your message more relatable.
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