Under guidance of a coalition of development institutions, Latin American and Caribbean countries came together to shift diets away from meat and towards plant-based foods. The aim was to contribute to lasting reductions in greenhouse gasses, and also to foster a shared social commitment to this dietary transformation to improve public health outcomes.

It fell to women to lead the charge in reshaping the household diet. Men and other household members had not been fully informed or engaged in the process. Men perceived these new diets as inadequate, given the absence of meat. Women had to shoulder a greater care workload to gather and learn new methods for food preparation, taking their time away from other crucial activities and further reducing their ability to participate in paid work.

As governments and institutional players launched this endeavor, they encountered a hurdle. The shift in cultural practices, especially when it came to diet, required thoughtful communication. The focus was on encouraging people to embrace plant-based diets generally, but it was discovered that women were often shouldering the responsibility for altering household eating habits given the expectations on them to provide and prepare meals for the family.

The dietary shift inadvertently made women look bad in the eyes of those who expected traditional meat-based meals. The initiative, while having the potential to be climate-transformative, ran the risk of failing to bring about the desired change and unintentionally placed blame and more unpaid work on women.

This change wasn't just about transforming diets; it was about transforming perceptions and attitudes within households and society as a whole. By emphasizing the importance of collective engagement and understanding, the initiative aimed to reduce food waste, lower meat consumption, and protect the environment while ensuring women weren't unfairly held responsible for changes that required the involvement of every member of the household.

The path forward became evident: it was essential to engage everyone in the household in the decision to reduce meat consumption and the methods to bring it into the household. This involved not only conveying the environmental rationale behind the dietary shift but also addressing deeply ingrained cultural perceptions. Traditional masculinity had been associated with higher levels of meat consumption, and it was crucial to send a message that eating less meat was not a deprivation or a diminishment of one's identity.