1 Eat with friends
If you have friends coming over for food and just one is following a meat-free diet, make the same meal for everyone. Not only will you spare yourself the hassle of cooking different dishes, you’ll also actually pep up your party: research from the University of Chicago shows that sharing the same food, not just sitting down to eat together, improves trust and cooperation.
2 Explore new cuisines
Forget what you can’t eat and get excited about discovering new ingredients and restaurants. Ethiopia has a reputation for incredible, soul-warming vegan food. Dishes from south India are less likely to use meat and ghee than those from the north. If you’re looking up recipes, you might be able to get inspiration from certain occasions: food that’s eaten in Greece during Lent, for example, is mostly meat- and dairy-free.
3 Challenge yourself to a 30-plant week
Five a day? Old news. Scientists in the US found that people who ate 30 different kinds of plants in a week had a much more varied gut microbiome than those who ate 10 or fewer. Their research showed it could improve your digestion and reduce the risk of bowel cancer. So how do we fit more plant-based foods into our diet? Think about adding one extra vegetable to your side salad. Grate a carrot into tomato sauce in lieu of sugar. Start eating plants at breakfast, adding dried or fresh fruits to porridge, or cooking up spinach or mushrooms.
4 Hit the market
And no, it doesn’t have to be a bougie farmers’ market. If you’re lucky enough to live within striking distance of a local market, it’s a cheap and fun way to shop. The whole “pound a bowl!” joy makes for vibrant streets, and the stacks of fresh produce will inspire your cooking. When you have impulsively purchased a bag full of aubergines for a pound, you’ll want to find ways to use them.
5 Think of alternatives
At the supermarket, you’ll notice that the section of vegan alternatives is expanding rapidly. And, again, choosing to explore will pay delicious dividends. Jackfruit cooked as a curry or stuffed into a burrito is lush and filling. Oat drinks make for incredibly creamy porridge and smooth hot chocolate (whisk up with cocoa powder, sugar and a pinch of mixed spice). Nutritional yeast may sound a bit bleak, but it’s great for adding a savoury, cheesy flavour to sauces.
6 But what about protein?
Plant-based diets can fall short on protein, but you can meet your daily requirements by eating a variety of beans, pulses, grains and nuts – all of which provide more dietary fibre than meat. About one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions come from the food system, with half of those emissions produced from the livestock (or animal-based) sector.
7 Don’t stress about labels
In general, animal-based products have a higher environmental impact than plant-based products. If you want to reduce your climate impact, switch to a more plant-based diet. But on a personal level, it can be difficult to tell yourself you will never eat roast beef again. There’s no need to issue a press release that you’re now vegan, vegetarian, flexitarian or whatever. Ditch the labels. Just keep exploring new foods and making small changes, because every time we choose plant-based we’re helping the environment.
Looking for dietary advice from a puppet? Watch THE NEW NORM&AL SHOW. Season 1 streaming now. Find out more at oatly.com
