Our eating habits
have changed drastically in the last few decades. One in eight Britons are now
vegetarian or vegan according to a recent report on food shopping. A further
21% claim to be flexitarian eating a predominantly ‘plant based’ diet,
occasionally supplemented with a little meat or fish. That amounts to a
staggering one third of UK consumers that have reduced or removed meat entirely
from their diet.
This rapid and dramatic change is being fuelled by the
perception that farm animals are one of the major contributors to CO2 emissions…
However it is important to realise that those statistics were based on ‘feed
lot’ systems rather than grass fed or pasture raised cattle.
Animal welfare
issues are high on the list of concerns that have swayed the 18-34 year olds.
This age group particularly are becoming much more curious and concerned about
how their food is being produced.
Many have lost
trust in multinational food companies, supermarkets, governments and the health
service. They are confused by food labelling and are becoming more and more
desperate as food allergies and intolerances grow exponentially. Consumers are
demonstrating increasing concern about the impact of our food choices and behaviour
on the environment.
 |
| Haulie ploughing our organic glasshouses |
The focus on the
effect of plastic on our oceans (see BBC’s Blue Planet 2) and the fact that up
to 9 different types of plastics were found in human stools in a recent study
conducted by the Environment Agency Austria, has shocked people into action.
We want our
governments to legislate for less plastic packaging and we want our
supermarkets to be proactive about reducing plastic.
For the first time
this year The Good Food Guide highlighted restaurants with vegan menus. The UK
supermarket group Waitrose, have created vegan sections in 134 of their stores
and launched a range of more than 40 vegan and vegetarian meals. This is not
going to change anytime soon. My gut feeling is that a plant based diet with
lots of fresh organic vegetables, fresh herbs and grains, organic eggs, dairy
and some meat and fish is the best for humans, animals and the planet.
In the sage words of
Michael Pollan, “Eat food, mostly plants
and not too much”.
Our Dynamic Vegetarian Cooking course at the Ballymaloe Cookery School runs on 27th February this year.
See details and book here.
