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Meat Free
Perhaps the biggest way as an individual of reducing your impact upon the environment is to reduce the amount of meat, red meat in particular, you eat.
Agriculture is the most destructive activity on the planet. Every year 3.8 million hectares of land is cleared for livestock and crops such as in the Brazilian Amazon where land is cleared to produce animal feed.
Deforestation to make way for livestock, along with methane emissions from cows and fertilizer use, creates as much greenhouse gas emissions as all the world’s cars, trucks and airplanes!
A couple of years ago I started to reduce the meat we eat as a family as almost every meal included meat. We had meat and veg for tea, ham sandwiches for lunch, carbonara sauce on pasta, peperoni or ham on pizza, meat curry, meat in a stir fry. It was so ingrained I thought it would be really difficult to cut back.
We started small with #meatfreemonday but as my successful vegetarian recipes collection grew I found it easier to reduce the meat we ate, so much so that I now count myself as a flexitarian – my children even comment in surprise when I eat meat!
We had a huge (local) turkey for Christmas so perhaps now isn’t the time to shout about it but otherwise we have successfully dropped to eating meat only about once per week and that is rarely red meat (pork, beef or lamb). We still eat fish – this is going to be a bit of my focus this year – and the children may have some meat while we adults have more exotic vegetarian dishes but I would say it has been far easier than I imagined.
Could you take part in #meatfreemonday, start integrating vegetarian recipes into your weekly routine or even have a look at #veganuary?
Looking for some inspriation for vegetarian meals this week? These are some of my favourites and suggestions from 52 Small Steps followers...
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https://tasty.co/.../roasted-eggplant-curryfbclid...
https://www.bbc.co.uk/.../bruno_loubets_bean_and_68770...
https://www.youtube.com/watch...
https://www.smartblend.co.uk/.../grilled-cheesy-gnocchi...?
https://www.rte.ie/.../2011/0928/747181-moroccan-tagine/
I love this veg curry recipe too...
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/vegetable-curry-crowd...
A couple of book recommendations came up too...
https://www.hive.co.uk/.../Ottolenghi-FLAVOUR/24879128
https://www.hive.co.uk/.../Veggie-Lean-in-15--15.../22388905
I hope you find your next favourite recipe!
References https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000mn4n https://grow.foodrevolution.org/ https://www.theguardian.com/.../lifestyle-change-eat-less...
