Usually when we think about actions to make our life more environmentally sustainable we think about buying an electric car, installing some cool solar panels; in general, buying new cool green things.
But sustainability is more about the opposite, getting rid-off of the things you don’t need, consume less and re-use more.
Today I want to introduce you to one of the most environmentally impactful things you could stop doing: stop eating meat, specially beef and lamb.
This single act is almost as powerful as avoiding catching a plane on your holidays (e.g. a return flight from SFO to NYC emits ~1t CO2eq, link), is equivalent to not buying >10 full outfits yearly (link) and is only behind the impact of not having children (link).
According to “Shrink that footprint”, the carbon footprint of an average North American not eating beef nor lamb is a 40% lower than a meat lover, while the one of a vegan person is less than half the footprint.
So what keeps you away of stopping eating meat? Leave your comments below!
I have stopped eating meat for several years now, but I still love the taste of meat and often times I’m too weak to resist it (e.g. cooked-with-love grandmas Christmas dishes). So even if you still (sometimes) decide to eat meat, just be conscious of your decisions and try to compensate it elsewhere (e.g. by off-setting more from your carbon footprint).
To help you survive in your day to day without eating meat, dairy and derivatives; I’ve compiled below what for me are the best alternatives to each of them:
Meat (beef, lamb, pork, chicken):
- Impossible food burgers: they taste delicious, but they are expensive and difficult to find in Spain.
- Veggie burgers / falafel: delicious as well and way cheaper than impossible food. They don’t taste like meat but will still allow you to eat a good ‘burger’ with friends.
- Tofu: my favorite, if you tell me it doesn’t taste to anything I would just simply invite you to try any of the (literally) thousands of recipes that macerate it with delicious species and make it as tasteful as needed.
- Texturized soya: my second favorite, I add it to everything: vegan Bolognese, pizza, soups, woks, salted vegetables, everything you can imagine. If instead of water you use vegetable broth to re-hydrate it the taste is delicious.
- Tempe: it’s becoming popular in Spain, but still hard to find in regular supermarkets. It’s very popular in Asia and I’ve eaten it on a daily basis in my time in Bali.
- Heura: also a good alternative, it is already popular in Spain so you will find it in all supermarkets. For me, the higher price (compared to tofu or texturized soya) is not worth to pay.
Dairy:
- Milk: you have an ocean of alternatives to explore, including vegetable drinks (soy, oat, coconut, rice, nuts, almond and a large etc.) or just plain natural drinks (e.g. fresh coconut water). None of them tastes like milk, but how you ever wondered how crude milk does really taste? You would probably vomit ;)
- Cheese: lots of vegan cheese out there, every time I try a new one I like it more! My top recommendation is cashew cheese with aromatic herbs (e.g. rosemary).
Fish:
- I have tried some vegan ‘sea food’ soups that taste like fish, but for me there is really no substitute, you just need to deal with it :(
