Plant-based food
This page is about plant-based food.
How
- The cheap way, with low-cost ingredients and a multivitamin.
- The expensive way, for those who insist on doing everything without supplements.
Both options can give you all the nutrients you need without meat, dairy, eggs, fish or any other animal products.
Why
- For the animals - because most farm animals are treated badly in factory farms (and unfortunately, the less-cruel kinds of animal farming are less scalable).
- For humanity and the planet - because if we want to end hunger and feed the world without deforestation, then people need to eat more plant-based (and/or stop food waste).
FAQ
But I thought that plant-based diets lack nutrients?
They don't have to.
But I heard that grass-fed cows can be raised sustainably?
Not if forests are destroyed to make room for pasture.
But maybe yes, if the cows are a part of rewilding grasslands as a form of nature conservation. Most beef & dairy does not come from this sort of farming. And even if every suitable land on Earth had this type of cattle farming, it still would not even come close to producing enough protein for 8 billion people. The world needs crops, and it would be far more efficient to turn the crops into food directly instead of feeding the crops to animals.
But don't cows eat the parts of crops that are too fibrous for humans to eat?
Cows are ruminants, so yes, they can convert fiber into protein. But mushrooms can do that more efficiently.
P.S. Chickens & pigs are not ruminants. They eat the same grains that could have been milled into flour.
But aren't imitation meats really processed?
- So are most real meats.
- Plenty of plant-based diets don't involve imitation meats.
- Yes, it's true that actual peas have more nutrients than refined pea protein.
- No, the "weird-looking ingredients" in imitation meats are not harmful.
This FAQ section will probably get longer over time. At the end of the day, you can survive and thrive without animal products, and it can be done cheaply or expensively or anything in between.