Happy World Food Day!

Yesterday was World Food Day! The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has designated October 16^th as a day to reduce your food wastage and eat healthier and more environmentally friendly foods. A study published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) has found that 

“impacts of the lowest-impact animal foods typically exceed those of vegetable substitutes, providing new evidence for the importance of dietary change” (Poore & Nemecek, 2018). 

With the deteriorating state of our environment, I believe that cutting back on meat is a simple way that each of us can make a positive difference to the environment without having to rely on government policy. The Government of Trinidad and Tobago has recently implemented a ban on use of Styrofoam in food packaging by companies, and is encouraging a switch to lower energy LED lightbulbs in the face of immanent environmental degradation. While  I applaud these solutions, we can make a huge difference by simply reducing the amount of meat we eat! 

In light of dietary change and this momentous day, I tried a one-day vegan diet. (I’ve never done this before, so this is new to me!) Here’s my journey through the day and my approximate food footprint calculated using the findings of the aforementioned study. (You can track your food footprint using the BBC food emissions calculator!)

My breakfast was healthy yet simple (and vegan, of course!). I made banana and apple oatmeal. To make this I boiled rolled oats in water with 1 banana, ½ of an apple, cinnamon, other spices and maple syrup. I topped it with peanut butter, pecans, apple and banana slices and more cinnamon. It was certainly delicious! The sweet caramelized bananas paired well with the apple and cinnamon. I enjoyed every bite!

Enjoying my breakfast. Photo by Mikella Hosein (me!)

Apple banana oatmeal. Photo by me.

I bought my lunch from a Vegetarian and Vegan restaurant at school. There were many vegan options, however, they were packaged in Styrofoam, which is non-biodegradable and stays in landfills for years upon years! Although I had carried a reusable container to pack my food in, it was already pre-packaged from earlier on so I was told that I could not use it. Instead, I bought a veggie burger in compostable packaging. The patty[1] was topped with tomato, lettuce and pickle slices and placed in a wholesome sesame seed bun. My mouth is just watering thinking about it! Even though it didn’t match the taste and texture of a burger, it was light, nutritious and just what I needed to keep me going through the day.

A vegan burger for lunch! Photo by me.

Photo by me.

Finally, for dinner, I enjoyed a satiating meal of rice, red beans and a host of vegetables (cucumbers, tomatoes, watercress greens and carrots). With these vegetables at the side, I did not miss the stewed chicken that Trinis usually love to pair with this meal. It was surely ‘likrish’!

My dinner: white rice, stewed red beans and vegetables. Photo by me.

Now, onto the more serious matter. Using data from the study by Poore & Nemecek (2018)[2], I compiled a chart of the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the foods I ate yesterday, comparing them to foods that I would normally eat (animal products). The emissions are measured in kg CO2eq (Kilograms of Carbon dioxide equivalents), which, according to the Guardian (2011), " is a standard unit for measuring carbon footprints. The idea is to express the impact of each different greenhouse gas in terms of the amount of CO2 that would create the same amount of warming. "

Figure 1: Bar chart showing the average greenhouse gas emissions of certain plant-based foods (which I consumed yesterday) compared with emissions from animal products. Chart compiled by: Mikella Hosein. Information received from Poore & Nemecek (2018).

Not surprisingly, as you can see above in Figure 1, the vegan foods produced much less emissions per unit of food [3] than animal products. This therefore proves that eating vegan is beneficial in terms of greenhouse gas emissions.

So, I did it! A whole day vegan! At times, although I did long for that hot beef pastry that Aunty sells at the 'tok shop', or a bite of the cheesy, creamy macaroni pie and yummy baked chicken that my family cooked for dinner, the thought of the saving the earth was enough to help me to abstain!

So what will you do? We know that the climate is changing, but the real question is: are we?

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[1]Ingredients of vegan burger patty: vegetable (mushrooms, carrots, green and red bell peppers, celery, pimento peppers), textured vegetable protein, brown rice, chia seeds, mixed herbs and spices, flax seed meal, wheat protein, spices, salt, garlic powder, onion powder, vegetable oil, chilli peppers, modified corn starch, rice vinegar, yeast extract, purified water. Made by Darby Culinary Limited.

[2] The calculations are based on global averages of greenhouse gas emissions from the production of each of the foods. Note that the study did not include everything that I ate yesterday, but it gave a rough idea of emissions per unit of food.

[3] Note that the emissions from these foods are based on consumption of certain amounts (units) of these foods; GHGs/kg for root vegetables, tomatoes, apples and bananas, GHGs per litre of milk and GHGs per 1000kcal for rice, wheat and rye and oatmeal. Also, GHGs per 100g protein for beans, nuts, groundnuts and all the meats in the chart showing average emissions from animal products.

REFERENCES

1. What are CO2e and global warming potential (GWP)? (2011, March 03). Retrieved October 17, 2019, from https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2011/apr/27/co2e-global-warming-potential

2. Stylianou, N., Guibourg, C. & Briggs, H. (2019). Climate change food calculator: What's your diet's carbon footprint? BBC. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-46459714 

3. Poore, J. & Nemecek, T. (2018). Reducing food’s environmental impacts through producers and consumers. American Association for the Advancement of Science, 360(6392), 987-992. doi: 10.1126/science.aaq0216