“Last month meat lovers descended on Gatlinburg, Tennessee, to bond over brisket, bacon, butter and the carnivore lifestyle at Meatstock 2026.
The event was full of kitsch apparel, various raw milks, and (of course) big juicy steaks, but amidst the meat evangelists were major political power players — from Calley Means, a senior advisor for the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), to the ‘Food Babe’ Vani Hari, who has frequently visited with White House officials to advocate for ridding our food supply of artificial dyes and pesticides.
Hari, Means and several other panelists and attendees are affiliated with the Make America Healthy Again, or MAHA, movement — a slogan and coalition promoted and kickstarted by current HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr, a carnivore diet adherent himself.
The MAHA movement is broad and varied, with several advocacy causes — ranging from reducing ultra-processed foods and pesticide use to vaccine skepticism — but one is fairly consistent: Americans need to eat ‘real food’ and that includes meat. This mantra is not just a social media trend, it is now woven into federal nutrition and health policymaking.”
