alt Hacker News> Grain finished beef became popular in the 1800s and consumers in the West have strongly preferred it since.
Don't conflate the US and the "west".
> Grain finished beef became popular in the 1800s and consumers in the West have strongly preferred it since.
Don't conflate the US and the "west".
> Don't conflate the US and the "west".
I only vaguely said “the West” because I didn’t want to get into the complexities of subsistence farming, regional quirks, and pedantics like “soybeans hulls are often considered roughage”.
About a third of beef in the world is truly grass finished and two thirds of that is subsistence farmers who can’t afford the grain. Most of the rest comes from Australia, Brazil, and New Zealand because it’s more competitive to leave them in pasture than import the grain.
As much as you may want to hold your nose up at the US, the (vast) majority of beef sold in the world is grain finished and has been for a long time. It’s just more economically competitive and people strongly prefer the taste and texture.