Carnism

Carnism is a belief system that normalizes eating certain animals by framing it as natural, necessary, and morally acceptable. It helps explain why meat consumption is often treated as an ordinary choice rather than an ethical decision.

Meat paradox: The psychological tension between caring about animals and eating them. It describes the conflict carnism helps resolve by separating food animals from animals considered companions.
Melanie Joy: An American social psychologist who developed the concept of carnism. Joy introduced the term and analyzed the ideology in her book Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows.
Meat: Animal flesh used as food. Carnism concerns the beliefs that make consuming animal flesh appear acceptable.
Animal rights: The view that animals have interests or rights that constrain how humans may use them. It challenges the assumption that human preference alone makes animal use acceptable.
Cognitive dissonance: Mental discomfort arising from inconsistent beliefs, values, or actions. Meat eaters may reduce dissonance by changing how they think about animals or their consumption.
Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows: A 2009 book by Melanie Joy examining the psychology and social organization of meat eating. The book gives the fullest early account of carnism as an invisible belief system.
Omnivory: The biological capacity to eat foods from both plant and animal sources. Carnism describes a cultural belief system, not the biological capacity to digest meat.
Utilitarianism: An ethical theory that judges actions by their consequences for overall well-being. Applied to animal agriculture, it evaluates suffering and benefits rather than relying on customary food norms.
Food choice editing: The mental process of filtering information about food before making a choice. Avoiding thoughts about animal origins can help preserve ordinary meat-eating habits.
Vegetarianism: A dietary practice that excludes meat, though it may include other animal products. Vegetarian movements and arguments provided a context for naming the norms that support meat eating.

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