Health professionals and environmental experts advocate reduced consumption of meat in industrialized regions. On this background, and in light of a number of
sociological studies of food practices and meal formats among consumers, this paper examines some aspects of the cultural entrenchment and vulnerability of meat consumption. Tacit meanings of meat products are seen as arising from the human tendency to rank and grade objects relative to each other, a process that is intrinsic to consumption practices. Examples of the ways in which gradient meanings of meat products are entrenched in food practices and of ways in which this consumption is vulnerable to change, are presented. On this basis, the
likelihood that current levels of meat consumption in industrialized societies will
remain relatively stable or tend to decrease are briefly discussed.