Bringing Lili into view…

Lili’s journey in text

Lili, a brown-and-white cow, grazing alone in a sunlit meadow.

01 / 06

This is Lili.

She is a mother. Follow her from the field to a plate.

Lili in the meadow with her two calves at her side.

01 / 06

Lili has a family.

Two calves. The younger one still follows her everywhere, never more than a few steps behind.

Lili and her calves in the grass by a wooden barn and round hay bales.

01 / 06

Lili lives on a farm

She knows its paths, its seasons, and the voices of her calves.

Lili walking up a ramp into a livestock truck parked by the road.

01 / 06

Lili leaves the farm

She is led up a ramp and onto a truck. Her calves stay behind.

A livestock truck with cattle inside arriving at a long grey industrial building.

02 / 06

Lili is driven away

The road is long and unfamiliar. Each mile takes her further from home.

Lili walking from the truck along a railed passage into the facility.

02 / 06

Lili is still alive

She breathes, listens, looks around. She walks where she is led.

Lili standing alone inside the facility, under a rail of empty hooks.

02 / 06

This is where meat begins

For Lili to become meat, her life has to end.

A tall grey screen closed across the passage inside the facility.

02 / 06

Lili is killed

It happens quickly, behind a partition. Few people ever see this part of the journey.

Lili’s body hanging from a hook on an overhead rail above a conveyor.

03 / 06

Lili is carried to the line

From here on, less and less of her looks like Lili.

  1. 01Lili
  2. 02Her body
  3. 03A carcass
  4. 04A cut
  5. 05A pack
  6. 06A product
  7. 07Meat
A dark curtain drawn across a booth, with a conveyor running out of it.

03 / 06

Lili is cut into pieces

Behind a veil, a saw divides her body. Only the pieces come out.

  1. 01Lili
  2. 02Her body
  3. 03A carcass
  4. 04A cut
  5. 05A pack
  6. 06A product
  7. 07Meat
Two steaks in a plastic tray on a conveyor, under a packing machine.

03 / 06

Lili is cut, packed, priced

Each part of her gets a tray, a label and a price. None of them carries her name.

  1. 01Lili
  2. 02Her body
  3. 03A carcass
  4. 04A cut
  5. 05A pack
  6. 06A product
  7. 07Meat
A supermarket meat display with rows of packed cuts under a red sign reading “MEAT”.

03 / 06

Lili is on the shelf

Clean, cold and brightly lit. Nothing here looks like a mother in a field.

  1. 01Lili
  2. 02Her body
  3. 03A carcass
  4. 04A cut
  5. 05A pack
  6. 06A product
  7. 07Meat
A shopper reaching into the meat case and taking a pack.

03 / 06

Someone takes Lili home

An ordinary errand on an ordinary day. Her story isn’t on the label.

  1. 01Lili
  2. 02Her body
  3. 03A carcass
  4. 04A cut
  5. 05A pack
  6. 06A product
  7. 07Meat
The supermarket meat aisle, now empty of people, its case still stocked.

03 / 06

When did Lili become meat?

In the field, on the road, behind the partition — or here, on the shelf?

About this sequence

This is a simplified visual sequence. Lili’s body is processed, packaged, and sold in stages; practices and products vary by facility and place.

  1. 01Lili
  2. 02Her body
  3. 03A carcass
  4. 04A cut
  5. 05A pack
  6. 06A product
  7. 07Meat
A dinner plate on a wooden table: a steak, a slice of meat and roast potatoes.

04 / 06

At the table

Lili is part of an ordinary dinner now: warm, familiar, and far from the field.

A plate of vegetables on a wooden table: broccoli, cucumber, radish, carrot and red cabbage.

04 / 06

There is another way

Explore meat free alternatives.

A plate of vegetables on a wooden table: broccoli, cucumber, radish, carrot and red cabbage.

04 / 06

What is your choice?

Knowing Lili’s story doesn’t decide what you eat. It lets you see what happened before the food reached your plate.

Answering is optional.

Choose the answer closest to yours.
Lili’s two calves alone in the meadow, standing where she used to stand.

05 / 06

Her calves are still waiting

They come back to where she always stood, and call for her. She doesn’t answer.

The two calves in the empty meadow, looking about for their mother.

05 / 06

Lili was one of 305 million

Cattle killed for meat around the world in 2024 — nearly ten every second. Every one of them was once a mother’s calf.

Cattle killed for meat each year, worldwide
Cattle killed for meat each year, worldwide, in millions
YearMillions of cattle
1961172.9
1962184.3
1963193.9
1964191.8
1965191.6
1966196.7
1967204.6
1968211.0
1969211.7
1970210.5
1971204.3
1972203.9
1973203.9
1974216.9
1975232.9
1976243.4
1977243.9
1978245.4
1979237.2
1980235.2
1981237.3
1982238.8
1983240.9
1984246.7
1985247.2
1986253.8
1987251.0
1988250.0
1989250.3
1990254.8
1991246.3
1992245.0
1993244.8
1994248.3
1995249.9
1996252.1
1997259.1
1998260.6
1999262.5
2000263.5
2001259.7
2002264.7
2003269.2
2004273.0
2005274.9
2006279.8
2007284.6
2008284.9
2009283.0
2010280.9
2011280.1
2012282.3
2013286.4
2014286.3
2015283.2
2016285.4
2017289.9
2018294.6
2019298.7
2020285.7
2021286.9
2022291.3
2023298.2
2024304.7

0Killed since you opened this page

Source: FAO via Our World in Data

Current chapter: Lili has a family.