Something that's been occupying my thoughts lately is Sustainable Eating. After watching the documentary "Cowspiracy", reading several articles on sustainable eating and talking to several friends who have gone Vegetarian for environmental reasons, I realised how much the livestock industry actually contributes to GHG emissions and how bad it is for the environment in general. Now, here I am referring of course, not to small-scale and/or sustainable farms, but the huge, industrial scale meat industry. Over the course of last week, I wrote an op-ed about a culture of over-eating that seems to be pervasive in many developed (and also developing) countries, that sums up succinctly most of my reasons for wanting to reduce my meat consumption.
Like I mentioned in the article, I'm not advocating for a Vegetarian Crusade. In fact, I don't think we need to completely cut meat out of our diets, but there is definitely a more sustainable way of eating, and the easiest way to do that is simply to cut down on the amount of meat we eat. Writing that Op-ed gave me the shove I needed to really try to do as I preach, and cut down on the meat I stuff my face with. So I decided to go vegetarian for my lunches (and some of my dinners), for 5 days first, just to kind of ease into the process. I'm writing this at the end of the week and I can safely say, it wasn't all as painful as I expected it to be! So I'll probably be continuing this as best as I can, and to encourage some of you out there, I decided to collect four easy vegetarian recipes that I cooked this week. Okay, I'm cheating, I only cooked three of these and ate the leftovers for the other two days instead of cooking a fourth recipe, but I've cooked the fourth recipe in the past and for completeness' sake I've put it in this post. So here goes!
1. Roasted Aubergines and Mushroom Pasta
This is probably the easiest recipe out of the four, especially if you use store-bought pasta sauce! It's also great for those of you who have a big appetite, because you can just scale up the amount of spaghetti you cook to fill you up. For some variety, try switching up the parmesan cheese with mozzarella! Click here for the recipe.
2. Onigiri, Seaweed Tamagoyaki and Cucumber Salad
This one is great for packing your own lunches to school, or work because it doesn't make a mess in your Tupperware and doesn't need to be heated up. I would say this would taste even better in the summer because it's so light and fresh! Recipe here.
3. Yaki Onigiri and Miso-simmered Aubergines
If you made too many of the Onigiri before, switch it up a little by crisping them up in a pan! Probably a better recipe for the cold times, since the miso-simmered aubergines also double up as a hot, delectable miso soup. Click here for the recipe.
4. Crispy Tofu, Miso Spinach and Teriyaki Sauce Rice Bowl
And of course, every Vegetarian's go-to substitute for protein, good ol' tofu. Spice it up with some teriyaki sauce! Recipe here.
