Q&A: Do I have to give up meat?
It’s one thing ordering something vegetarian when I’m at a restaurant, but I don’t know how to cook lentils and nut loaves.
Q: I keep reading that meat is as bad as fossil fuels, but I can’t imagine going vegetarian. It’s one thing ordering something vegetarian when I’m at a restaurant, but I don’t know how to cook lentils and nut loaves. Anyway, I love a good steak and roast chicken.
A: Yes, reducing our consumption of most animal products will help with climate change, and is a good way to save money. You don’t have to give up meat. Instead, make some changes in the meat and dairy products you buy, and when you do eat beef or chicken reduce the amount, or have it a bit less often. Gradual change is far more likely to stick, and to be palatable to family and friends.
“Fully replacing items in a diet can be quite daunting, yet starting by simple changes can make a difference. For example, if one trades 1 steak of beef for 1 steak of chicken each week, in a year a quarter ton of carbon emissions will be saved. This is already 20% of reduction in the carbon footprint in a European diet!”
I came across the work of Sophie Marbach and Romain Gaillac in “The carbon footprint of meat and dairy proteins: A practical perspective to guide low carbon footprint dietary choices,” and wrote to them because I wanted to know more about why yoghurt has less carbon impact than milk or cheese. In brief, and understanding that the data on this is preliminary, Marbach explains that “compared to cheese making, yogurt making is a much less energy demanding process. It also allows one to ‘concentrate’ proteins such that the cost of transporting these proteins is much less than if they were in milk jars. When one transports milk one does transport indeed a lot of water.” Read more (in English or French) and use their app to find your carbon footprint with different diets.
Goat and sheep products can be pricey, and they are not widely available (yet). so they aren’t a good alternative for most people. If you can afford them, and find them, I am sure you’ll be pleasantly surprised (check out Nigel Slater’s recipe for lentils with goat cheese, below; a photo is above at the top). And you’ll be encouraging farmers to consider animals other than cows.
The big issue for most people is the practical question of what on earth to have for supper. Most of us have grown up centering meals around meat and it can be daunting to come up with alternatives.
My advice is to stay away from “green” or “vegan” or even “vegetarian” cookbooks if you’re used to eating meat every day. Those cookbooks can be daunting. The authors expect you to have exotic ingredients on hand, and never seem to be aware of the price of things. (Admittedly, by not buying meat, you can afford to spend more on other ingredients.)
Instead, I have two suggestions.
Simply reduce the amount of meat in your favorite dishes and increase amount the vegetables or pasta or potatoes. Say that one standard evening meal at your house is spaghetti bolognese. Use less beef, add some grated carrot to the sauce, and try a wholewheat or chickpea pasta for extra protein.
Browse the cuisines of other countries. Most provincial cuisines evolved during tough times, and make great use of vegetables, legumes, and seasonings. Georgian cuisine is one example. I love a classic pate, but I now tend to make a Georgian blend of kidney beans, walnuts, and lots of fresh herbs - totally vegan, totally delicious.
Any cookbook that emphasizes vegetables - my favorite is Jane Grigson’s Vegetable Book - will give you plenty of ideas. Nigel Slater is another cookery writer who does not eschew meat but has loads of creative meatless recipes, too. And they aren’t complicated - very important to those of us who have to cook at the end of a workday. Here’s an example:
October 25 The knee-jerk lentil supper
Once again there are small green lentils bubbling in a pot of water on the stove that need nothing more than draining, then tossing immediately with red win vinegar, olive oil and lots of parsley, to be eaten with slices cut from a log of chalky, ash-rolled goat cheese. This is the supper I make when we really don’t know what to have; a supper of knobbly, fudgy textures and milky, nutty flavours that works on every level. It’s cheap, too. [The Kitchen Diaries, Fourth Estate 2005.]
Green lentils are the tiny black-green lentils often called French lentils. They take almost no time to cook - even less if you soak them for a bit - and are probably the most versatile legume on the shelf. They make an excellent salad, and they keep their shape, unlike the sloppy bigger brown lentils I got to know as a hippyish teenager. They’re also great in soup - again, because they cook so quickly, it’s easy to turn a vegetable soup into a full meal-in-a-bowl by adding green lentils. With wholewheat bread or crackers, you’ve got a complete protein and, as Slater says, it’s cheap.
How about Chinese cooking, which comes from a land where both fuel and meat have been scarce? Some would vote for stir fries, but we neglect the many interesting soups, stews, and steamed dishes that are perfect this time of year. There are some good and easy recipes in Fuchsia Dunlop’s Every Grain of Rice. And here’s a photo of a beautiful and delicious dish that was simply one of many things served at a restaurant dinner in China: seawood, mushrooms, and a few sesame seeds. This, to my mind, is what sustainable eating looks like.
