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Why a Scandinavian Hotel Group Is Banning Bacon and Some Cereals

The Norwegian hotel group Nordic Choice Hotel Group—which operates Comfort hotels, Quality hotels, Clarion hotels, and others throughout Scandinavia and the Baltics—is taking meat off the menu at some Comfort hotels, citing sustainability reasons...

Recent reports that processed meats like bacon and sausage can cause cancer have sent meat-lovers, chefs, and food industry executives alike into a panic. Many people have wondered whether the new information could lead to restrictions on these meats, such as those placed on cigarettes.

But one hotel chain in Sweden is taking matters into its own hands and making the judgement call for its guests by banning bacon and sausage from the breakfasts served at some of its locations. Socialism—they'll take your cured meats.

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The Norwegian hotel group Nordic Choice Hotel Group—which operates Comfort hotels, Quality hotels, Clarion hotels, and others throughout Scandinavia and the Baltics—is cutting morning meat at some Comfort hotels, citing sustainability reasons rather than carcinogenic effects. The billionaire owner of Nordic Choice, Petter Stordalen, worked with his wife Dr. Gunhild Stordalen to make a meat-free menu.

"The focus on sustainability permeates what we do in Nordic Choice," Stordalen told Hegnar.no.

The menu was developed with Dr. Stordalen's EAT Food Forum, which aims to address issues of food, health, and sustainability. EAT Food Forum is a division of the larger Stordalen Foundation, which supports "projects and organizations actively working for a greener future."

The Comfort hotels in question have also cut items like cereal and cheese made with palm oil from breakfast. Palm oil is grown on plantations in tropical areas, and rainforest is often slashed and burned to make room for bigger fields. The effect is a double whammy—not only are tropical forests cut down, but enormous amounts of CO2 are released into the atmosphere from the fires.

The reaction from hotel guests to the new vegetarian breakfast has been mixed, but environmental groups are championing the move.

"Eating vegetarian is the most effective thing you can do both for animal welfare and the environment. It's good for your health, too," said Siri Martinsen, head of the Norwegian animal rights group NOAH.

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The vegetarian breakfast is a trial, and the reaction to the program will determine whether the hotel group expands vegetarian breakfast to other hotels or abandons it.

READ: Meat Is Having the Worst Month Ever

Breakfast meat isn't the first hotel staple that Stordalen has removed from his hotels. Citing its contribution to child trafficking, Stordalen eliminated pay-per-view porn from Nordic Choice's 171 hotels and replaced the channels with contemporary video art on demand in 2013. Stordalen also says his hotels were the first in the world to ban smoking.

Stordalen, who has a net worth of $1.5 billion, according to Forbes, has a flair for the dramatic, and his theatrics often come paired with an environmental cause. In 2002, he chained himself to a nuclear treatment plant in protest, and his Rainforest Foundation Norway channels the means to preserve 100 square meters of rainforest for every night booked by a hotel guest. According to The Guardian, he also has converted his Ferrari to run on biofuel.

He has also been known to stage James Bond-style over-the-top grand openings for his hotels. For one, he flew a helicopter onto the roof of one of his hotels and then rappelled down its facade face-first. In another, he descended from the ceiling playing a drum kit inside a disco ball. Recently, he opened a hotel in Malmö by driving a jet ski up a ramp onto land, taking a pretty nasty fall onto some stone stairs. How he was supposed to stick the near-impossible landing is unclear.

If your idea of a dystopian future involves eccentric Scandinavian billionaires forcing you to go vegetarian, the end times could be nigh. Even the former CEO of McDonald's is teaming up with a Californian faux-meat company.

But perhaps it's nothing to be concerned about. Who wakes up in time for hotel breakfasts anyway?