The top consumer of pork in 2021 continued to be China, taking into account its special economic regions Hong Kong, Macau, and Mainland China, whose consumptions were about 61, 52, and 37 kg/inhabitant respectively.
Pork is the most popular meat in the Western world, particularly in Central Europe. It is also very popular in East and Southeast Asia (Mainland Southeast Asia, Philippines, Singapore, and East Timor).
Unsurprisingly, China is the leading pork producer worldwide, producing about 50 million metric tons of pork each year.
Pakistan - 12.7 kg per capita
On average, 12.7 kg of meat per capita is consumed by Pakistanis, with veal and beef accounting for some 6.35 kg. Poultry consumption is just under 4.53 kg, while pork is consumed the least due to Islamic dietary laws prohibiting the consumption of this meat.
Unlike many other forms of livestock, pigs are omnivorous scavengers, eating virtually anything they come across, including carrion and refuse, which was deemed unclean. Furthermore, a Middle Eastern society keeping large stocks of pigs could destroy their ecosystem.
Both Judaism and Islam have prohibited eating pork and its products for thousands of years. Scholars have proposed several reasons for the ban to which both religions almost totally adhere. Pork, and the refusal to eat it, possesses powerful cultural baggage for Jews.
Hindus don't eat beef. They worship the animals. The Muslims don't eat pork. The Buddhists are vegetarians and the Jains are strict vegans who won't even touch root vegetables because of the damage it does to the plants.
According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, pork is the most widely eaten meat in the world (36%) followed by poultry (33%), beef (24%), and goats/sheep (5%).
Today, bacon is enjoyed around the world, especially in Denmark, which ranks #1 in bacon consumption per capita. But that doesn't mean we don't love bacon here in the U.S. In fact, we produce more than 2 billion pounds of bacon annually and annual per capita consumption is around 18 pounds per person in the US.
Approximately 706 million pork meals are produced in Australia each year. APL estimates that 10.2kg of this was consumed as fresh pork per Australian in 2021-22.
Sheep meat consumption
According to the OECD, the consumption of sheep's meat—including both lamb and mutton—is most popular in Kazakhstan, Australia, and Turkey.
The country that consumes the greatest amount of chicken is the United States. Every year, the United States consumes approximately 15,000 metric tons of chicken, placing it significantly in front of the second-place region.
When looking at the base nutrients such as protein and fats they are nearly identical. If we compare fatty cuts of pork and fatty cuts of beef, the pork has larger amounts of healthy fats.
The countries with the highest meat consumption per capita are Argentina, Israel, and Iceland, while India has one of the lowest levels of meat consumption per capita.
For the Chinese, pork is our default meat. It is not just the most commonly consumed but even the Chinese word for meat automatically implies pork. Historically, Asia has never been a huge beef-consuming continent. Cows and buffalo were too valuable and productive for farming to be slaughtered for food.
Chicken meat most popular meat in Australian diet, new trends for other meats.
Not surprisingly, the most expensive meat in the world — the Kobe beef A5 Wagyu Tomahawk — is also the highest quality of beef. Only a specific type of cattle from a certain region of Japan are selected to make Kobe beef, according to Ventured.
Because pork was a treat saved for festivals, pigs are traditionally associated in Chinese culture with prosperity and good health.
The pig is considered an unclean animal as food in Judaism and Islam, and parts of Christianity.
The top ranked country, China, accounted for 47.3 % of vegetable consumption in the world.
The only dietary restrictions specified for Christians in the New Testament are to "abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from meat of strangled animals" (Acts 15:29), teachings that the early Church Fathers, such as Clement of Alexandria and Origen, preached for believers to follow.
Traditionally, the Chinese do not eat beef because the cow is considered a sacred animal and a holy incarnation of the Goddess of Mercy. Much like the Hindus, they believe that the cow is a gift from the gods, providing life nourishing milk, clothing from its hide and a partner to help toil and till the land.
However, Catholics do not eat chocolate during the month of lent. Chocolate is among the foods that Catholics avoid during the month of Lent in order to unite themselves more closely to Jesus in the desert.