If you thought Cambridge University is where the clever people are, maybe you should think again. Students there have voted to support a transition to a solely vegan menu across its catering services.
It’s ironic that undergraduates at one of the most revered seats of education on the planet haven't done their homework. Surely higher education is about assembling the facts gathering data and reaching an informed conclusion.
Did they not see the rather distressing report suggesting that children raised on a vegan diet were - on average - 3cm shorter than those who eat meat?
Their bones were also smaller and not as strong putting the children at risk of fractures or Osteoporosis in later life.
The study by University College London's Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, said parents must be aware of the risks of vegan diets.
The authors said vegan children should be given vitamin B12 and vitamin D supplements to reduce the potential long-term health consequences of being raised on plants only.
Not exactly a ringing endorsement is it? Have the students of Cambridge University not reflected on the air miles intrinsically linked to a plant-based diet with ultra-processed, meat-free foods made in cast factories, packaged in plastic and shipped around the world?
Did it not come to their attention that plant-based requires vast mono-crop agriculture in which millions of hectares of diverse land are stripped and razed to the ground to accommodate mile after mile of corn, wheat, or soy?
But how can these crops possibly be cultivated given the industrial nature by which they are farmed?
After all, livestock graze on land – cows, sheep, lamb, goats - all poo and wee on the ground, enriching the soil, and watering it, at the same time.
It's called - regenerative farming - and we've had it for thousands of years. Most British beef is farmed in this way, which makes it more of a carbon win than first meets the eye.
In Britain pretty much all beef cows graze on the grass in the summer and are fed hay, silage or straw in winter. And some graze outdoors all year long. Very brave.
Perhaps now is the moment to mention my good friend, Jeremy Clarkson, in whose brilliant TV show "Clarkson’s Farm" it was revealed this week that a full-size cow contains within her up to 1000 portions of meat, as well as the bones which can be ground up and used as a natural soil nutrient, blood and other unwanted tissue, can be used for dog and cat food, and the hide can be used for leather.
You get a lot of bang for your buck from Daisy the cow. And all she needs is grass.
Meanwhile, mass production plant-based crops can only be sustained with millions of litres of chemical fertilisers and pesticides. Doesn't sound very healthy - or environmental - to me.
What about the nutrient value of plant-based? Are meat-free burgers and vegetarian sausages - which are often largely composed of water, industrial, seed oils and soy - really going to power the intellectual demands of these Cambridge students?
Good luck with that.
Particularly given the fact that plant-based protein is less bio-available which means it's not as easily absorbed as animal products.
And alternative proteins like PEA protein do not contain the full complement of so-called amino acids – in other words, they are not a complete protein.
Air miles, shorter kids, inadequate nutrition, inadequate protein, but it doesn't stop there.
Because, if you go plant-based you're likely going to be eating a vast amount more carbohydrates – bread, pasta, rice.
And sugar to make much of this vegan rubbish edible.
Why is this a problem? Because excessive, carbohydrate consumption has been linked - by the likes of NHS GP Dr David Unwin - to obesity and type two diabetes.
It astonishes me how unthinking the students, at Cambridge University are. But how illiberal as well.
What happens if a student wants choice and to opt for what - in my view - would be, the healthy option, of some cheese, some eggs, some meat, or fish.
A lot of this is politics, not health. We live in an era where public institutions seek nothing more than to signal their virtue - in this case, at the expense of students and their health.
I've got friends - and viewers and listeners - who are vegan, and they love it. Good luck to you, no problem.
But I'm sorry, in my view, the health case for plant-based, does not stack up and I worry for the future of children - and our young people - who are being increasingly coerced into this deeply inadequate form of nutrition.
We've been eating meat for millennia and if we pursue this plant-based experiment I predict the next generation will be sicker, fatter, sadder, more tired and frankly, malnourished.
Perhaps that's the way the state - and the pharmaceutical, industry - would like it. Who knows? But there IS a clear agenda among administrators to stop us eating meat based upon debatable science.
And after the horror of vaccine mandates, once again, the authorities are trying to decide what goes in our body.
This time via our dinner plate. just say no.
Those seeking to enforce a plant-based diet are silly sausages. I've got beef with them. And frankly, they can burger off!
I'm here to defend cows. Because plant-based is utter bullocks!
