Queen's Brian May Says the Idea of Eating a Cow or a Sheep Is "Repugnant"

Queen guitarist Sir Brian May has opened up about why he gave up beef, lamb and bacon decades ago, telling the Good Food Podcast that the idea of eating a cow or a sheep is "kind of repugnant" to him.

The rock legend sat down with host Samuel Goldsmith for what the show calls his first ever food interview, in an episode released on Thursday, October 29. The conversation covers his dad's runner beans, Freddie Mercury's gold-leaf desserts and the Red Special gin he has just created. But when Goldsmith asked about the prawns he loved on seaside holidays as a boy, May gave a very honest answer:

Yes, it does, but it's a struggle for me because I'm a campaigner for animals, especially wild animals, so the idea of eating animals at all doesn't sit well with me. At the same time, I have all this kind of tradition, and it's hard to break it. I mean, I haven't eaten beef or lamb or bacon or what else is there? For years and years, I mean, for probably 30 years, and I would hate to do that because the idea of eating a cow or a sheep is kind of repugnant to me.

We love the honesty here. Old habits are hard to break, and May doesn't pretend otherwise. When Goldsmith mentioned he'd read that May had gone vegan, the guitarist went straight to what drives him:

I'm definitely committed to trying to decrease the suffering of animals, because I think every animal matters. Not just species, not just numbers, but every single creature matters.

That isn't just talk. May runs the Save Me wildlife rescue with Anne Brummer, who he says "has rescued literally thousands of animals", from foxes and badgers to deer, birds and hedgehogs. The Save Me Trust has taken on the UK government over the badger cull, and in January 2020 May took part in Veganuary while on tour in Japan.

The man who finished a PhD in astrophysics three decades after starting it also brought some cosmic perspective. If an alien came to Earth, he says, it "wouldn't necessarily come to the conclusion that humans were the best and the most worthy of preserving." His conclusion: "To me, it's self-evident that every animal matters. That's where I start."

Taking his concern for wild animals seriously points straight to the plate. The most comprehensive analysis of farming's impact, by Joseph Poore of the University of Oxford and Thomas Nemecek and published in Science, found that without meat and dairy, global farmland use could shrink by more than 75%, an area the size of the US, China, the European Union and Australia combined, and still feed the world. Meat and dairy use 83% of farmland while providing just 18% of our calories. That is a lot of land that could go back to the foxes, badgers and hedgehogs May spends his life protecting.

May joins a long line of much-loved stars speaking up for animals. Joaquin Phoenix used his Oscars speech to speak up for dairy cows, and Arnold Schwarzenegger said he was slowly getting off meat. The same month May tried Veganuary, KFC sold a million vegan burgers as Veganuary hit 400,000 sign-ups, and this year a record 30 million people took part in Veganuary. Scientists also found that diet change is the biggest lever for protecting land and wildlife.

Every single creature matters. We couldn't have put it better ourselves.