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3 Ways To Eat Less Meat

October 15, 2009

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Alternate title: Mooooooo! Another year, another Blog Action Day…

“Now in its third year, Blog Action Day is an annual event that unites the world’s bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day. Our aim is to raise awareness and trigger a global discussion.”

Camel Burgers in MoroccoI wouldn’t consider myself an expert on environmental change, but one thing I’m fairly expert-ish at is being a vegetarian. After reading both Food Matters (Bittman) and In Defense of Food (Pollan) this summer, I was reminded again how utterly insane meat consumption — and in turn its affect on the environment — has gotten. Americans eat about 200 pounds of meat, poultry and fish per capita per year (and this excludes dairy)!  So who’s eating my 190 pounds? (As a recent pescatarian, I probably eat about 10 pounds of fish a year.) And we eat twice the global average. Obviously, some of that statistic is slightly skewed from other Western nations, as developing nations can’t afford to eat as much meat, but their consumption has doubled in the last 20 years.

So I guess we could probably all agree that it would be smart to eat less meat. As Americans, we’re getting double our daily protein requirements.

3 Ways To Eat Less Meat:

  1. Eat more beans. Black beans are a staple in many Latin American countries, and are an excellent source of protein to boot.
  2. Don’t go cold turkey. Ahhahaha… sorry about that. Anyway, I’m all for balance. Swearing off meat entirely isn’t for everyone, and if you don’t replace it with something you’ll probably just give up. So try being a “Monday, Wednesday, Friday” vegetarian by only eating meat a few times a week.
  3. Think Asian. Asian countries have some amazing ways of creating brilliant meatless food, originally out of necessity, but now a huge part of their cultures… think bean curd (China), tofu (Japanese for bean curd), chai pow yu (Vietnam glutony stuff).

See how I cleverly got on my vegetarian soap box for Blog Action Day, and didn’t have to actually make any personal changes? :) I need a challenge… anyone?

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  • Nicole
    February 5, 2010 at 9:06 am

    Great tips for cutting back on meat! I’ll second (or third?) the idea that plant-based meals are cheaper. So another way to eat less meat is tighten your food budget. Fifty bucks a month will buy more rice and beans than it will meat and potatoes.

  • Anil
    October 19, 2009 at 3:39 pm

    There are so many great, cheap, and nutritionally round dishes from all over the world that are great for vegetarians. One thing I try to look at is ‘peasant foods’ since they are rarely meat-based. Lentils, beans, rice, so on and so forth. Lots of great recipes out there and much better for the environment.
    .-= Anil´s last blog ..Interview With Stephane Pingaud About New Service Cost4Travel =-.

  • Ronnica
    October 15, 2009 at 9:06 am

    I’m not a vegetarian, but I don’t eat a lot of meat, either. I’ve intentionally cut back (primarily for cost reasons) and have found black beans a tastier, cheaper, healthier alternative to beef. I’ve also found more recipes that I like (and I’m picky!) that have no meat in them.
    .-= Ronnica´s last blog ..What Do You Know? =-.