Meatless Monday: For the Planet’s Health as Well as Your Own

Anonymous made a good point when he (or she) left a comment on my last week’s post, stating that for some the Apocalypse HAD arrived. I had not meant to be flippant when making reference to the rolling 6 pm global earthquakes which had not materialized. Clearly life will never be the same for survivors of the devastating tornado in Joplin, Missouri, and I would never make light of that.

Tornadoes have a direct link to the weather. While it can’t currently be proved that the strange weather patterns of this late Spring are caused by climate change, some scientists believe this is a possibility. This story in the Huffington Post contains updates on the Joplin tornado, describes the weather conditions favoring the formation of tornadoes, and offers some opinions from meteorologists on why this year’s outbreaks have been so severe. Huffington Post also offers ways in which you can help those in the disaster areas. Bill McKibben, the founder of 350.org, raised the question about the link between climate change and our recent bad weather in a widely-read Op-Ed piece in the Washington Post. 

Most scientists believe that the CO2 in our atmosphere is rising to dangerous levels, leading to global warming.  It is a fact that meat production is a huge contributor to this rise. An often referenced 2006 report by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, here summarized by Scientific American found that “current production levels of meat contribute between 14 and 22 percent of the 36 billion tons of ‘CO2-equivalent’ greenhouse gases the world produces every year. It turns out that producing half a pound of hamburger…releases as much greenhouse gas into the atmosphere as driving a 3,000-pound car nearly 10 miles.”

The PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) site is an excellent source of materials documenting what is wrong with the meat industry — from the creation of CO2 to the unethical treatment of the animals being raised for food.  PETA has also compiled an informational kit on going vegetarian/vegan. You can request a free copy in the mail or view it online. Included (along with the graphic images of factory farms) are an interactive quiz on animal traits, celebrity endorsements of PETA’s work from musicians Sir Paul McCartney and Joan Jett and actors Alicia Silverstone and Kevin Nealon, a treasure trove of recipes, and a comprehensive vegan shopping guide for a conventional grocery store. [Vegans like to grill and snack as we all do.] Even if you do not decide to embrace the vegetarian or vegan lifestyle, perhaps you will come to appreciate the reasons behind the choice, and maybe find a recipe or two.

On this Monday of cookouts across America it seems a particularly good time to remember that Meatless Monday’s goal is to help reduce meat consumption 15% in order to improve personal health and the health of our planet. [Bold type is mine.] I went in search of vegan Field Roast Grain Meat sausages for the grill and found some at our nearly local Whole Foods. Next Monday I’ll let you know how they turned out and I’ll even throw in my coleslaw recipe which I’ve been tweaking a bit.

Enjoy your holiday. Have a great week. And come back again soon.

I try to blog on food or food issues each Monday in support of Meatless Monday, one of several programs developed in the Healthy Monday project, founded in 2003 in association with Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communications. Meatless Monday’s goal is “to help reduce meat consumption 15% in order to improve personal health and the health of our planet.”

Meatless Monday: Vegans on My Mind, a Continuing Saga

Eggless Cinnamon Apple Coffee Cake

I have been reflecting on vegans quite a bit over the past year. This Summer’s egg recall had me considering for the first time what it would mean to go without eggs. In October I spent time with my college roommate who is trending toward veganism. And last month I had the task of preparing vegan-friendly dishes for the holiday feast.


I have some experience with tofu. I do know how to make both a tofu scramble which is a passable substitute for scrambled eggs and a pretty tasty eggless egg salad. And I have a great repertoire of recipes for legumes. While it is not too difficult for me to come up with a vegan main course, it is rather hard for me to refrain from adding a generous sprinkle of cheese to top off a dish of rice and beans. 

Still, by far my biggest vegan challenge falls in the realm of desserts. I have learned how to make a flaky pie crust using canola oil. I have discovered articles and lists, such as this detailed one from PETA, about what to substitute for eggs in baked goods. But the articles all advise that it is much easier to substitute for 1 or 2 eggs than it is to substitute for more. There doesn’t seem to be a reliable way to make an eggless meringue or angel food cake. Bananas, applesauce, and tofu all have their place, but sometimes the recipe calls for “egg replacer.” In my October post about the egg recall, I promised to look into such products and to report back.

Here is what I found. There are two readily available products marketed as “egg replacer.” Each has a shelf life about a year with no refrigeration required. PETA references one called Ener-G Egg Replacer, which is free of gluten, wheat, casein, dairy, yeast, egg, soy and nuts but  does contain some multisyllabic ingredients as well as potato starch. I opted to purchase the second — Bob’s Red Mill All Natural Egg Replacer — for my experiment, since I was already a fan of Bob’s whole wheat pastry flour. Bob’s products are milled in the Northwest using old stone grinding equipment. This egg replacer contains whole soy flour, wheat gluten, corn syrup solids, and algin (from algae). The instructions on the package (which I trusted based on an earlier success with Bob’s recipe for carrot cake on the pastry flour bag) called for mixing 1 tablespoon of egg replacer with 3 tablespoons of water for each whole egg to be replaced.

I started small, with a simple recipe for a Cinnamon Apple Coffee Cake. The recipe called for a small amount of milk, 1 egg, and some melted shortening to accompany the dry ingredients in the batter, and 2 tablespoons of butter in the streusel topping. I substituted canola oil for the shortening and the egg replacer for the egg, but I didn’t monkey with the rest—this time. The result is pictured. It was delicious. If anything, it tasted even better than usual. With some 63 tablespoons remaining in my 16 oz. bag of egg replacer, plenty more experiments will follow. Next up is to make this cake with soy milk and vegan-friendly margarine. If it works I’ll publish the recipe. All I need is time…

I often blog on food or food issues on Monday in support of Meatless Monday, one of several programs developed in the Healthy Monday project, founded in 2003 in association with Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communications. Meatless Monday’s goal is “to help reduce meat consumption 15% in order to improve personal health and the health of our planet.”