NPR.

This is the indicator from Planet Money.

I'm Whalen Wong.

And I'm Darym Woods.

You might have seen earlier this month the Trump administration introduced a new food pyramid.

The government flipped the old pyramid upside down, literally. Yeah, the new pyramid is inverted. So the widest part is now at the

top. And occupying the top row are foods like a thick cut of steak and a wedge of cheese.

There's also broccoli and carrots, but fruits and vegetables are given as much importance as what the pyramid labels as protein, dairy, and healthy fats.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is arguably the country's highest profile carnivore.

He said in a recent press conference that he's fixing incorrect guidance from previous administrations.

Protein and healthy fats are essential,

and we're wrongly discouraged in prior dietary guidelines.

We are ending the war on saturated fats.

The secretary is talking about the fats found in red meat, butter, and cheese.

So it looks like beef is back on the menu.

But did it ever really leave?

Today on the show, we trace the rise of beef consumption in the U.S.

to see how the industry and government have long shaped the American diet.

Beef has always been a huge part of the U.S. diet, no matter how the food pyramid looks.

Joshua's Spetch dates America's love affair with beef back to the late 1800s.

Joshua is a history professor at the University of Notre Dame who studies ranching and meatpacking.

My story starts in the late 1800s, and that's when affordable, high-quality beef became a kind of expectation for people.

...