Going veggie should give us real food for thought
Apologies for the cheap shot because, actually, it’s no laughing matter.
Just ask the good people at Greggs which has launched a vegan steak bake following the huge success of meat-free sausage rolls.
I’m a former vegetarian who began eating meat again 18 years ago.
But I’m seriously considering a plantbased diet once again.
As the full tragedy of climate change unravels before our eyes and our anxiety and grief for the planet increases, becoming vegetarian is one way we can actually combat that feeling of hopelessness and try to make a difference.
Experts agree that the West’s high consumption of meat and dairy produce is fuelling global warming but that doesn’t mean we all need to become vegan or vegetarian.
Simply cutting back on the amount of meat we eat can have a dramatic environmental impact.
The mighty hoof print of farmed meat isn’t just inefficient.
Deforestation to make way for livestock, along with methane emissions from cows and fertiliser use, creates as much greenhouse gas emissions as the world’s cars, trucks and aeroplanes, according to a United Nations report.
Meat-rearing practices risk mass extinctions of other animals, as well as pollution of streams, rivers and oceans.
Far from wanting to put my local butcher out of business, I would rather spend more on locally-reared meat for my family, but less often, and encourage them to develop a taste for chickpeas, aubergines and courgettes instead of pork, beef or chicken every day.
And maybe throw in a couple of portions of oily fish a week for good measure and balance.
I first turned veggie as a teenager, sickened by my dad’s penchant for offal.
A farmer, he’d regularly enjoy tongue, tripe, kidneys and liver but it was the frozen sheep brains in the freezer – a delicacy he loved on toast – that was my final straw.
My parents regarded it as a fad but I stuck to my guns and, for more than a decade, I think I only survived thanks to baked potatoes, pesto pasta and Linda McCartney until weaning my own children prompted me to introduce meat again.
Now it feels like I’ve gone full circle twice, with my eldest son announcing four months ago that he was becoming a vegetarian. Well, pescatarian, as he still eats fish.
But it’s mainstream today and easy to justify the decision to be veggie, whether for health, environmental or animal welfare reasons.
Those vegan sausage rolls were a game changer for fast food chains last year, leading to a 58 per cent rise in first-half profits for the high street bakery and if many newlyconverted vegetarians are like my son, they’ll be overjoyed they can now also buy a vegan steak bake at lunchtime.
Little wonder McDonald’s and KFC are following suit with their own vegetarian alternatives.
Having a plant-based diet no longer means missing out and, in the past few months, the rest of the family is, by default, also eating less meat. Thankfully for them, my culinary repertoire has increased.
Veganuary is now a mass movement that stretches well beyond the first month of the year.
More than 300,000 people are expected to go meat free for this month, with up to 47 per cent saying they are committed to staying vegan.
Those moving towards a vegan diet for the first time consumed 3.6 million fewer animals in the first six months of 2019 in the United Kingdom, according to analysis by the charity behind the Veganuary movement.
As we step into a new decade, with its fears about what the future may bring, remember there is something you can do.
Of course you can take the bus more, fly less, recycle, but I suspect we will all need to embrace deeper lifestyle changes.
Going full veggie might be a step too far for most of us – but swapping our usual pies or burgers for the odd veg lasagne is a good start.
Lesley Roberts is away.