You know me – always banging on about eating less meat.
Let me quote The Guardian:
In October, scientists warned that huge reductions in meat eating are required if the world is to stave off dangerous climate change, with beef consumption in western countries needing to drop by 90%, replaced by five times more beans and pulses.
If enough Americans stopped eating meat, we’d make a difference not just to the animal protein industries (who wouldn’t like us), but to America’s carbon emissions AND to the political landscape.
We would be quite literally “putting our money where our mouths are” and showing politicians that we are SERIOUS about the climate crisis.
Here’s another paragraph:
The mighty hoofprint of farmed meat isn’t just inefficient. 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. Meat rearing practices risk mass extinctions of other animals, as well as spawn significant pollution of streams, rivers and, ultimately, the ocean.
It’s easy to dismiss giving up meat as a small personal action that doesn’t amount to much – but imagine if all 44 million of us registered Democrats did it all at once! After all, we're the ones who claim to care so much about the climate, right? And who are waiting with bated breath for the Green New Deal, no?
Americans eat a LOT of meat. Really — a LOT.
So what if us progressives just decided to give up meat to make our point BEFORE we elect a Democrat in 2020?
If you’ve read any of my diaries, you know that my practice is to (a) blog-nag people about giving up meat, and (b) eat what I call “practically vegan.” That is, I get 90% of my calories from plants, and the remaining 10% from fish or eggs.
I look for the most sustainable version of each, and I never eat more of these animal-sourced foods than the equivalent or 10% of my daily calorie intake. I hit on this solution because as I get older, it’s harder to get enough protein from just rice and beans without packing on the pounds.
My eggs come from, yes, Whole Foods. This is admittedly spendy, but is much better for the actual chickens that lay the eggs for me.
I also buy fish that is as sustainable as possible. The Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch page explains “sustainable” this way: “seafood that's fished or farmed in ways that have less impact on the environment.”
The aquarium has an excellent seafood search. (It loads best using IE rather than Chrome.)
To find a brand of “everyday” tuna for my pantry, I used this guide from Greenpeace.
Wild Planet’s albacore tuna gets a #1 ranking (or at least it did in 2017) and so that’s what I buy. It’s (much) pricier than the Bumble Bee I used to reply on – but I think the extra expense is worth it. Yes, this is just one way that eating more sustainably and responsibly is much easier for people who have the money to do so. It’s infuriating, but it’s also a discussion that I will table for another time.
This edition’s recipe is based on a traditional Salade Nicoise and is adapted for what I know I have in my kitchen right now.
Salade Nicoise is easy, healthy, filling, delicious, and does not require heat. Because you’re using fish and/or eggs, you’ll get a lot of umami. Umami is often missing from strictly vegan fare, and which meat eaters tend to REALLY miss when they’re moving to a more plant-based diet.
And most important — no mammal meat or fowl. Plenty of protein, much lower in emissions and environmental footprint.
Give it a try! It’s tasty!
Have I mentioned that it’s HOT today? It’s hot. So very hot. So I am not making any extra trips to buy ingredients, and I am not turning on the stove!
Ingredients
Fresh lettuces (romaine, red or green leaf lettuce, butter lettuce, iceberg, even kale and/or radicchio – lettuce farmed locally is best)
Tomato, sliced
Fish: anchovies, sardines, or tuna. Anchovies are not really optional for this salad. I always use them. Plain sardines are really nice if you just can’t do anchovies. (Five anchovy fillets will give you 6 grams of protein.) Tuna is also traditional, but I consider it optional at best. Many tuna stocks are being horribly over-fished, and of course, mercury and other heavy metals don’t add much to the party.
Hard-boiled egg (there’s about 6 grams of protein in each large egg)
Niçoise olives – a handful or so (If you don’t have Niçoise, use what you have. I always have Manzanilla olives – Safeway store brand – in my fridge, and usually use those.)
Green beans (steamed leftover beans, or frozen beans that you’ve nuked according to package directions and let cool)
Boiled baby potatoes, leftover, cooled, and cut into bite-sized chunks
Prep the Lettuce Bed
Tear the lettuce into manageable pieces and toss in a basic vinaigrette. Here’s a really easy one from my favorite Swedish Chef, Marcus Samuelsson:
- 1 plump garlic clove, smashed and minced into a paste
- 1 generous tsp Dijon mustard
- 3 tbsp red wine vinegar
- Juice of ½ lemon
- 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Whisk the garlic, mustard, vinegar and lemon juice in a bowl. Drizzle in the olive oil as you continue to whisk. (Or you can just dump everything into a small jar and shake it about madly.)
Toss the lettuces in half the dressing and mix to coat (reserve the other half for drizzling).
Make the Salad
Plop the dressed greens on a broad salad plate (in an artful arrangement, if you have the energy).
Arrange sliced tomato on top – you can use slices of a large tomato, or halved cherry tomatoes.
If using, flake the tuna or sardines into sizable chunks onto the greens. Use a whole can for a protein punch, half a can if you don’t want a salad dominated by fish.
Slice a hard-boiled egg or two and arrange it over the salad.
Toss the olives onto the plate and arrange a few green beans on top. Pickled green beans work a treat here, too!
Stud the salad with the chunks of potato.
Finally, drape your anchovy fillets over the top of the salad and drizzle with the remaining dressing.
Eat it accompanied by a hunk of crusty bread, while sipping a glass of crisp Pinot Gris and feeling very, very French.
Thanks for reading!
Kira Thomsen-Cheek
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