Yes, even in this city symbolized by a flying pig and once called Porkopolis, officials worry about residents leaving too big of a carbon footprint. So as part of the Green Cincinnati Plan to make the city more environmentally friendly, proponents want you to at least think about choosing fruits and vegetables more, meat less.
"Nobody wants Jeff Ruby to have to take out an ad that says, 'Why are you hurting my restaurant?' " said Daniel Oerther, chairman of the University of Cincinnati's environmental engineering department who leads the city's food task force.
The group, which met for the first time Thursday, drew about 20 people, some of them vegetarians. After more meetings, the task force will make recommendations to City Council about how best to encourage people to re-think their diets.
"Probably a better way to say it is: Think about plant-based diet options," Oerther said. "It's kind of a recognition that a lot of us are meat-and-potatoes and goetta type people."
The less-meat suggestion is part of a plan that started in October 2007, when City Council unanimously directed the city manager to develop a climate action plan. Council passed it, 6-3, in June 2008. It includes more than 80 recommendations on how the city can reduce its footprint, from using energy efficient light bulbs to giving the city's 6,000 employees free public transportation.
Council allocated $57,900 in this year's budget for a climate protection coordinator, who has yet to be hired. It is not clear how much the meat awareness campaign could cost.
Among the initial suggestions: slogans on buses and T-shirts saying "Fight Global Warming, One Bite at a Time" or "Cooling the Earth ...With My Fork!" Other ideas included offering soy milk in schools and detention centers, and scheduling a meat-free day every week in schools.
The goal would be to see all Cincinnatians eat meat one fewer day a week by 2012. The group also will look into promoting more locally produced food, choosing food with the least packaging possible and eating organic.
Mayor Mark Mallory, a self-described carnivore, cautioned against focusing on just one recommendation. He and Vice Mayor David Crowley were the driving forces behind the idea.
"This is a recommendation that was made in the report for future study," he said. "The final results - who knows what they might be?"
The plan, he said, is to give people plenty of options for being more environmentally friendly.
"I wouldn't want that whole report," he said, "to be cooked down to just one thing."
Cincinnati wouldn't be the first government or agency to suggest this of its citizens. Singapore recently asked its 4.8 million people to eat less meat as a way to save money during the recession. The United Nations, which says meat consumption could double by the middle of this century, says eating less would help curb global warming because meat production is to blame for almost a fifth of the world's greenhouse gas emissions.
Local butchers aren't concerned about the effect of such a direction from the city. At Findlay Market, customers waited in lines for items ranging from short ribs and T-bones to Moroccan camel sausage. (Yes, really from camels. Kroeger & Sons has sold 30 pounds of it in each of the last three weeks).
"Afraid we're going to become a meatless society?" co-owner Debbie Knueven Gannaway asked. "No."
Down the aisle at 100-year-old Charles Bare & Sons, owner Neil Luken was preparing a pack of 20 steaks for a customer.
"Here's what I think the city should do," he said. "They should buy everyone a fishing pole with the stimulus money and let them all go down to the Ohio River and catch fish.
"But no meat? I don't think so."