In January we decided to join the estimated 500,000 people going vegan for a month. For my family the main driver was the environmental impact of the food we eat. Meat production has a huge impact on carbon emissions, water use and animal welfare issues. The food we eat contributes to about 1/3rd of our individual carbon footprint, the food part is equivalent to about 3 tonnes of CO2 per person, per year.
There are some stark figures involved and it does depend a great deal on where individual products are produced. Any food item that has been air freighted will have a huge carbon footprint (think grapes from South Africa, Strawberries from Morocco or Green beans from Kenya). The carbon footprint of beef quadruples if it has been imported – and it was already pretty hefty to start with!
As a family we have been reducing our meat consumption over the last few years. We rarely eat red meat and especially not processed red meat as this is more likely to be imported. If we do on occasion eat red meat, we source it locally and it is usually reared within a short distance of our home. Verseys the butcher sell meat from Honiton and Cullompton.
We do eat chicken and that is also pretty problematic. The high welfare standards that are so lauded by supermarkets aren’t really that great. It is something I have witnessed during time working in the meat industry but I try to block it out as the reality is pretty shocking. For years, due to environmental reasons, we have not eaten fish apart from the occasional fish finger. This is in part due to 48% of the ocean plastic is in fact from the fishing industry and the decline of fish stocks due to overfishing.
I don’t eat eggs because I don’t like them but the rest of the family does, so I always buy the highest welfare ones I can find. My son has eczema so we have massively reduced our dairy consumption over the last year, as it triggered flair ups.
I am lucky – I love cooking and have children that enjoy vegetables and they aren’t particularly fussy in what they eat. My 9 year old daughter’s favourite food is brussell sprouts!
I originally trained to work in the food industry and my course covered nutrition, so I had a basic understanding about amino acids and how to food combine to ensure that you received all the plant based protein you need. Plus I joined some Facebook groups with some very helpful people who happily shared their recipes and experiences with me.
The thing I struggled most with was the mindset, I was brought up to believe an evening meal consisted of a protein, some form of carbohydrate and 2 veg on the side. So rethinking what a meal consisted of took some effort – I couldn’t just trot out my time tested family favourites that I could cook on autopilot. One day after a particularly stressful day of home schooling and working for 7 hours my brain just could not decided what vegan meal to cook so we had beans and chips. The kids loved it but at that point I decided to be a bit more organised and batch cook some meals for the freezer for days when I just couldn’t think of anything!
We get a weekly organic veg box but I soon realised that just wouldn’t cut it, so a trip to the local farm shop was needed. Then I went to the supermarket so I could stock up on lots of canned beans and pulses. Many of my favourite recipes I just adapted; I made a cottage pie using green lentils and beans to replace the beef mince, everyone loved it and said that they preferred the meat free version!
All the big supermarkets have a large stock of vegan foods and I found many fake meat replacements. We never really eat chicken nuggets as they taste like cardboard but I found some vegan ones in Tesco… they still tasted like cardboard but they were a hit with the kids who liked them on a salad or in a wrap. I also tried Jackfruit, that was really nice in a spicy tex-mex style sauce. I tried tofu for the first time, I marinated it and fried it before adding it to Chinese and Mexican dishes. Yoghurt is something my son has missed and we tried soya, flavoured yoghurt, which he really liked and it was great for a quick breakfast or pudding with some fruit.
My one epic fail was vegan cheese. I was forewarned by the experienced vegans that whilst it has come on leaps and bounds in the last few years you need to give your palate a chance to adjust. It all tastes like a cross between coconut and feet and is not something I would recommend but after a while I have lost my desire to eat cheese. At first it felt like an enormous sacrifice but after this vegan experience I will severely limit my intake.
After a couple of weeks I was struggling to come up with new recipes, so with a substantial new joiner discount I tried one of the meal delivery food boxes which was a great way of trying some new meals. They had 5 plant based options and I picked 4 meals to try, 3 were a massive hit and I will certainly be making them again.
I am really glad that we decided to try this. I can’t say that my diet change has led to a spike in energy levels or feeling massively healthy, but our fruit and veg consumption has gone through the roof and by default we have reduced our saturated fat intake and eaten a great deal of healthy legumes.
As a family we have decided to go vegetarian after this month. I just found the vegan diet too restrictive at this point. Not being able to cook with eggs to make family favourites such as Yorkshire puddings was a step too far for us at this time. However – I do know we will not go back to eating in the same way as we did before. We got to try some new ingredients and recipes, many of which have become family favourites.
In order to reduce our carbon footprint we all need to look at our diets and this has certainly been an experience. It has led to lots of dinner time discussions about our diet and how we can be more sustainable in our daily lives.
If you want to reduce your carbon footprint, the food you eat is a pretty easy way to start. If a full on vegan diet isn’t for you, maybe just try to incorporate more plant based meals into your diet. And hope vegan cheese improves.
Thanks for reading,
Catherine Causley
Great blog, thanks