The First City Meat Lecture – a Great Success!
Our first meat industry event took place on Thursday 11 November, and placed the Livery at the heart of its industry. Liveryman Bob Bansback OBE tells us how this new annual event was first class from beginning to end.
The inaugural City Food Lecture took place on Thursday 11 November, in our Great Hall, in front of an audience of over 160 people – with many Liverymen and prominent industry representatives present!
The lecture was given by Professor Frederic Leroy from Vrije University in Brussels on the subject ‘The Rightful Place of Meat in the National Diet’.
Professor Leroy is recognised as a leading international expert on food and animal science; he proceeded to expose the scientific flaws in many of the environmental and nutritional arguments put forward by those who advocate reducing meat consumption and favour plant-based or lab-based alternatives. He went on to underline positive benefits from eating meat.
In his conclusion, he encouraged the audience with the comment:
‘Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise: meat is a healthy food’ offering key nutrients and within wholesome diets ‘there is no evidence of harm’.
You can watch a recording of the City Meat Lecture 2021 below:
Liveryman Stuart Roberts, NFU Deputy President, chaired the lecture, which was followed by a lively discussion with a panel consisting of Hsin Huang, Secretary General of the International Meat Secretariat, Laura Ryan, Global Chair of Meat Business Women and co-founder of the Global Meat Alliance, and Clive Black, founding Director and Head of Research at Shore Capital Markets.
After the brilliantly insightful lecture and an inquisitive Q+A session, WCB Master, Margaret Boanas, summed the evening up by saying: "We were treated to a highly informative lecture by Professor Leroy and subsequent discussion at our inaugural City Meat Lecture. The excellent industry turnout emphasised the importance of the subject matter of the event."
Feedback from Liveryman Olly Kohn has said "My guests thought it was really insightful and has sparked lots of interesting conversations" and Liveryman Lucianne Allen stated that "the guests we brought all found it thought provoking and inspiring".
Encouraged by so many positive comments after the event, watch this space for the announcement of the City Meat Lecture 2022. We look forward to seeing you there!
Thank you to Dalehead Food & Pilgrim's UK Ltd, for their generous sponsorship of the City Meat Lecture 2021, and to everybody that attended and supported our new meat industry initiative.
If you were unable to attend the City Meat Lecture 2021, the slides from Professor Frederic Leroy's presentation are available below (pdf file). Please note that the document may take a short while to download.