The graph compares how many grams of fish and three different types of meat, namely chicken, beef, and lamb, a person ate in a week in a European country during 1979 and 2004.
Overall, people consumed a higher amount of meat than fish, with chicken being the most popular poultry for most of the period, and its prevalence also grew considerably. Meanwhile, the amount of fish, beef, and lamb consumption saw general downward trends.
Regarding the primary types of meat, beef and chicken, people ate beef the most in 1979, with over 200 grams a week. Beef consumption reached a new peak at about 240 grams in 1984, but then it dropped sharply to under 200 grams 5 years later. Thereafter, the amount of beef in people’s diet continued to fall significantly, before ending the period at just over 100 grams per week. By contrast, the figure for chicken consumption rose steadily with moderate fluctuations between 1979 and 1989, ranging from under 150 grams up to 200. Since then, the amount of chicken eaten per week took the lead, increasing to 250 grams.
Concerning lamb and fish, lamb was consumed at 150 grams in 1979, after which it recorded a downward pattern, falling to just over 50 grams in the final year. Finally, people ate fish the least in their diet, with its figure standing at approximately 60 grams per week in 1979, which was about three times lower than that of lamb in the same year. Fish consumption stayed mostly unchanged for the whole period, finishing at under 50 grams in 2004.