Eating meat until your stomach hurts (Swiss Press Text 2015, by Anina Gepp) - Swiss Press Award

Az Limmattaler Zeitung

Anina Gepp

Anyone who can eat more than 1.3 kilograms of meat in one sitting will be rewarded with a free meal at Ismael Murati's steakhouse in Dietikon. Anina Gepp saw the announcement for this competition in Dietikon at the beginning of July 2014 and immediately contacted the proprietor to confront him about the campaign. Dietikon SP municipal councilor Peter Wettler also expressed his criticism of meat consumption. The main text is supplemented by an interview with David Fäh, a physician and lecturer at the University of Zurich. He highlights the health risks of consuming large amounts of meat and explains what this triggers in our bodies. A context box also describes how such eating contests have a long tradition in the USA and have almost become a sport there. The result was a double-page spread on the topic of meat consumption. The response to the article was enormous. On July 5, 2014, the day of publication, the editorial team of the az Limmattaler Zeitung received numerous letters to the editor and emails. Eating such a large amount of meat at once was incomprehensible to many readers. Some were even outraged that we were publishing such a text at all. Others, however, praised the fact that it drew attention to the issue. Either way, it was a double-page spread that engaged readers and stimulated discussion.