Meat in Advertisement

The excerpt I read in The Sexual Policies of Meat made me reflect on the way the past and present society has perceived food, particularly meat.  In the excerpt, Adams made it clear that meat is associated with masculinity while vegetables tend to relate more to women.  This made me consider the truth in this argument through the examination of an ad made in the 1950s.

 The ad below is directed towards pleasing the male audience as the prime rib is paired with sharp meat carving implements associated with the man’s stereotypical role in food preparation: the cutting of meat.  This ad created by the American Meat Institute states that meat is “complete.”  Meat, according the ad, “is a symbol for man’s desire” and encourages women to make meat for dinner because this is what their husbands “desire” and is what man has desired since the cave days.  Though the ad implies that meat is nutritional and should be part of every American’s diet, it specifically emphasizes the need for meat for the man and only mentions women when discussing the pride women will have in their meals they make with meat.