Enter the folks at the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, who have responded to the looming vegetarian crisis by launching a website, Cool 2B Real, in an attempt to link meat consumption with some degree of hipness. The site, which looks like a cross between a Barbie fan page and a Taco Bell ad (beef-filled tacos and gigantic hamburgers dot the screen), extols teenage girls to “Keep it Real” ? “real” as in a person who eats beef, preferably three or four times a day. Visitors are also invited to send e-cards to their “real friends” and to tell the world why they are “real girls” (because they eat beef burritos, of course!)

“We hope the ‘Cool 2B Real’ campaign helps girls make healthy decisions about food and exercise,” says Mary Young, a registered dietician and Executive Director of Nutrition for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. The NCBA, says Young, is concerned about the nutritional shortfalls of vegetarianism, which Young refers to as one of the “wacky eating behaviors” teenage girls tend to favor.  [Time]