James May says eating meat will be seen as ‘primitive’ in the future

Top Gear host James May has spoken out on the ethics of eating meat, stating that he believes people will think doing so is “primitive” in future generations.

Yep, his former colleague Jeremy Clarkson may have allegedly got in a bust up over a steak and opened a restaurant with absolutely no vegan food, but it turns out his car-obsessed former TV colleague takes a rather different stance.

Speaking about his new cooking show, Oh Cook!, in which the beginner cook tries his hand in the kitchen, the presenter said that we have the “privilege” to decide to give up meat these days.

James May advocated for veganism (Credit: Instagram/ James May)

“There’s enough healthy vegetarian food about. I’m not one — yet — but I have devoted an episode to meat-free cooking and I’m particularly proud of my vegan burger,” he told The Times.

“It’s quite possible we’ll look back in a generation or two’s time and regard eating animals as primitive.”

May isn’t vegan himself, yet he is outspoken about the importance of cutting back on meat for the sake of the planet, and has admitted to trying the lifestyle in the past.

Speaking in an interview a few years ago, the celeb said that whilst veganism wasn’t for him at the time, he was confident that “in the future” humans would give up meat as options for alternatives increased.

“I’ve also got some cow friends now down in the countryside and I go and talk to them in the field next to our house and I look into their eyes and I think they do know me,” he said, adding that as well as ethically, society’s meat consumption “isn’t sustainable.”

James May’s attitude to veganism is just a little bit different to his co-star, Jeremy Clarkson’s.

Jeremy previously made it abundantly clear that the guests at his Diddly Squat farm weren’t going to have the option of a meat free meal, brandishing a sign that read: “Yes, we have no vegetarian food.”

Jeremy Clarkson hasn’t been pro-veganism in the past (Credit: Alamy)

He’s also previously called vegans who disagreed with his farming practices “lunatics”.

Seems like James has a slightly more progressive outlook…