这5招可以让人类少吃肉

We need to eat less meat. As the global population explodes, pressure mounts on the food production system, and animal agriculture drives environmental degradation, that's a no-brainer. But, as we know from personal experience, humans are weak creatures. Food choices are driven by a primitive "Homer Simpson-like" brain that caves to cravings, rather than logic. In other words, when a tasty hamburger appears in front of us, we're more likely to think about how delicious it would taste than the acres of deforested Amazon it represents.

我们应该少吃点肉了。随着全球人口的爆炸式增长，粮食生产系统面临巨大压力，动物农业导致环境不断恶化，这些事连傻子都知道了。

人类对于食物的选择是由一种原始的「荷马辛普森式」大脑所驱动，这种大脑更倾向于渴望，而不是逻辑。换句话说，当一个美味的汉堡出现在我们面前时，我们更有可能会想到其味道有多么美味，而非这个汉堡代表着亚马逊森林又减少了多少面积。

Can something be done about this? One group of scientists has put forward some suggestions.

那么，我们可以做些什么吗?对此，牛津大学的Filippo Bianchi与其同事们在今年早些时候发表的研究中提出了以下建议。

1. Reduce portion size

Running counter to the American tendency to supersize everything, this strategy relies on restaurants and grocery stores to offer smaller default portions of meat, whether it's a main course or prepackaged meats for sale.

1. 减小肉类尺寸

与美国人倾向于超越一切的做法背道而驰，这种策略依赖于餐馆与杂货店默认提供较小分量的肉类，无论是煮熟的主菜还是预先包装好的生肉。

2. Design greener menus

We know that creative 'nudges' can help people to make healthier food choices, but this same philosophy can be applied to pushing vegetarian meals. Bianchi wrote,

"Displaying the meat options on a separate restaurant board and only keeping plant-based options on the default paper menu made people four times more likely to go with a meat-free option, according to a study conducted in a simulated canteen."

If that's not possible, then mixing the plant-based options in with the meat ones on a menu is still better than separating them out and putting them at the end, which reduces likelihood of consumption.

2.设计更环保的菜单

一项在模拟食堂进行的研究表明，在单独的招牌上展示肉类选项，只在纸质菜单上保留植物选项时，人们选择无肉菜系的可能性会增加四倍。

如果这么做不可能，那么将菜单上的蔬菜与肉菜选项混合在一起，也仍然比将两者分离并将蔬菜放在最后更好，这同样可以降低肉类消费的可能性。

3. Make meat harder to see.

Physical positioning does a lot. When meat is placed at the end of a buffet spread, after people have loaded up their plates with salads, soup, and vegetables, their meat intake is reduced up to 20 percent.

3.让肉类更难看到。

此外，位置也起到了很大作用。当肉类放在自助餐的末端时，人们用沙拉、汤与蔬菜装满自己的盘子之后，他们的肉类摄入量减少了20%。

4. Show where meat comes from.

When meat is pictured as the animal it once was, it turns people off from eating it. "Research shows, for example, that presenting the image of a pork roast with the pig’s head still attached increases people’s demand for a plant-based alternative."

4.标明肉类的来源。

当肉类被描绘成原本的动物时，会让人不再食用。研究表明，在烤猪肉旁放上猪头图片，可以增加人们以植物作为替代品的需求。

5. Make the vegetarian options delicious.

It's logical. The tastier it is, the more people will want to eat it. One thing I'd add is that developing hearty vegetarian fare is important, because meatless options are often limited to soups, salads, and wraps – not always enough to fill a ravenous person.

5.让素食更为美味。

这倒是合乎逻辑。素食越美味，人们就越想吃它。我要补充的一点是，开发丰盛的素食菜系可是很重要的，因为无肉的选择通常仅限于汤类、沙拉以及卷饼，这并不总能满足一个贪吃鬼的胃口。