Are many young people are passionate about beef?

[jfmorris]

I've got 3 kids, all married, and a large extended family of in-laws and my kids have lots of cousins in my wife's family that they few up with. I've got almost two dozen 20-30 year olds in my family circle of influence. Of all those, only ONE - my youngest daughter's husband - does not eat beef. For some weird reason, that boy only likes chicken. Period. His parents and sister all eat beef, so no one understands it. I used to throw something else on the grill or smoker for him, but gave up, and he will eat at least a token amount of beef or pork when he comes to our house, as I've stopped catering to him... my daughter on the other hand caters to him at their house and cooks chicken in a crock pot or something for him while she and the kids eat steak she cooks in a cast iron skillet...

I'm also actively involved as a leader for my church's college group, consisting of 60 to 70 college kids at most events, and flip burgers for that group on a big event grill a few times a year, and all the kids scarfed down the burgers and dogs as fast as I could crank them out.

[SJUfeller]

Donw

Good point about the small sample size . . .

but I also take what some industry insiders have to say with a grain of salt. I think some of their doom and gloom is, at least, intended to garner support for industry trade groups and get funding to counter the "anti-beef" crowd through advertisement and PR.

My gut feeling is that the future of the industry is going to ebb and flow more on economics (how much does beef cost and how much are people willing to spend) versus whether the population of vegans and vegetarians is growing. I don't doubt that that there is some impact, but I also think there is a bit of "chicken little" sky is falling inside the industry.

I appreciate the feedback here . . . And it is heartening to see that people here are passing on to the next generation appreciation for beef!