Delicious and green dining ideas to reduce your carbon footprint
IT’S official, going vegetarian or vegan is the only real way to combat global warming.
Experts suggest that reducing your meat consumption by a third could have a significant impact on climate change* and that the widespread adoption of a vegetarian diet could prevent approximately 40,000 deaths from Heart Disease in the UK each year**. So maybe we could all do with taking a look at what we are serving up at the dinner table?
Leading health charity Viva!Health has put together a special Green Cuisine Dinner Party menu – to help you cut down on the amount of meat you eat in the most delicious and environmentally friendly way.
The recipes, which are 100 per cent vegan, are designed to make the most of fresh and seasonal vegetables this spring – including asparagus, nettles and rhubarb.
Viva!Health senior health campaigner, Dr Justine Butler says: “Eating more vegetarian and vegan food, even a couple of times a week is the most significant thing anyone can do to reduce their carbon footprint and improve their health at the same time. If you want to do your bit to help the environment why not give one of our recipes a try? You also stand to reduce your chances of developing some of the UK’s biggest killer diseases, including heart disease, type 2 diabetes and certain cancers.”
Viva!Health can help you cut down on the amount of meat you eat – we can even help you go veggie or vegan! We produce scientific reports, practical guides, informative fact sheets, we even have a free online Vegan Recipe Club! For more information visit vrc.viva.org.uk.
Asparagus and cheatin’ Meatie Spears
Serves 4
12 fat spears of asparagus
30g vegan margarine
1 packet Redwood cheatin Pepperoni Style slices or Ham Style slices
1. Pre heat oven to 180°C/350F/Gas Mark 4
2. Cut cheatin slices into strips and wrap around the asparagus
3. Brush each spear lightly with margarine
4. Cook for 3-4mins until lightly roasted
5. Serve with vegan Hollandaise Sauce
Vegan Hollandaise Sauce
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
6 pepper corns
1 dried bay leaf
40g silken tofu
125g/4oz vegan margarine
1tsp tumeric
lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste
1. Put the vinegar in a small pan with the peppercorns and bay leaf. Reduce the vinegar over a high heat until there is only 1 tbsp left. Strain the peppercorns and the bay leaf from this reduction.
2. Put the silken tofu in a food processor with the vinegar reduction.
3. Gently melt the margarine so the solids fall to the bottom of the saucepan.
4. Add the tumeric and turn the food processor on and slowly pour the margarine on to the tofu with the motor still running. The sauce will start to thicken. When only the butter solids are left, stop.
5. If the sauce is too thick, add a little hot water.
6. Season to taste with salt and pepper and a little lemon juice.
Nettle Dahl
Serves 4
Traditionally made with spinach, try using nettles in this gorgeous recipe. Serve the dahl with your favourite veggie curry and either white or brown Basmati rice, or as a light meal with warm chapatti and salad on the side. Yum! Make sure you wear gloves to pick the nettles, selecting young, fresh leaves. Mung dahl are tiny, yellow split lentils that make this dish very velvety in texture. They are available from Asian stores and good delis, otherwise the usual red lentils will do just fine.
225g/8oz mung dahl OR red lentils
750ml/1pt 7fl oz water
1-2tbsp plain vegetable oil
1tsp black mustard seeds
½tsp ground turmeric
½tsp ground cumin
¼tsp asafoetida OR ground fennel powder
2tbsp grated fresh ginger (peel before grating)
½ a medium green chilli, de-seeded and chopped (use ¼ tsp chilli powder if you are particularly sensitive to hot food)
100g/3 ½ oz young nettle leaves OR finely shredded spring greens OR shredded spinach
1-2tbsp fresh lemon juice
Salt to taste
1. Wash the dahl in a sieve with cold running water.
2. Put into a heavy-based saucepan, pour in the water and bring to the boil.
3. Reduce the heat then simmer for 20-30 mins.
4. Heat the oil in a large pan.
5. Meanwhile, add the mustard seeds, turmeric, cumin, asafoetida or fennel seeds, ginger and chilli. Saute for 2-3 mins then add to the dahl.
6. A few mins before the dahl is ready, stir in the nettles and lemon juice.
7. Cook for a further 2 mins. check taste and add salt if needed. Serve hot.
Rhubarb crumble
Serves 4-6
340g rhubarb
3 tbsp water
160g raw cane sugar
115g wholewheat flour
55g oats
55g desiccated coconut
2 tsp ground ginger
115g vegan margarine
1. Chop the rhubarb and place in an oiled oven-proof dish with the water. Sprinkle 70g of the sugar over it.
2. Put the remaining 90g of the sugar in a mixing bowl with the flour, oats, coconut and ginger. Mix well then add the margarine and blend in well with your fingers.
3 Spoon the crumble mixture on top of the fruit and bake at 400°F/200°C/Gas 6 for 30 mins.
4. Serve warm with soya cream.
*Friel et al., 2009 Public health benefits of strategies to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions: food and agriculture. Lancet. 374 (9706) 2016-2025.
**Key et al., 1999. Health benefits of a vegetarian diet. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society. 58 (2) 271-5.
Notes to Editors
For more information about this media release contact Dr Justine Butler at Viva!Health on 0117 970 5190 or email info@viva.org.uk or press officer Helen Rossiter by calling 0117 970 5190 or emailing press@viva.org.uk. Out-of-hours media mobile: 07939 051351.
About the author
Dr. Justine Butler
Justine joined Viva! in 2005 after graduating from Bristol University with a PhD in molecular biology. After working as a campaigner, then researcher and writer, she is now Viva!’s head of research and her work focuses on animals, the environment and health. Justine’s scientific training helps her research and write both in-depth scientific reports, such as White Lies and the Meat Report, as well as easy-to-read factsheets and myth-busting articles for consumer magazines and updates on the latest research. Justine also recently wrote the Vegan for the Planet guide for Viva!’s Vegan Now campaign.
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