I was reading an article in Australian Women’s Health about going vego, something I’ve been wanting to do but my husband ain’t so keen. He’s not one of those “where’s the fucken meat?” kind of guys, but he doesn’t really like the idea of going without it. The boys also love their meat – especially Jax – so it’s a bit of a challenge for me right now. In the meantime, I’m eating more and more vego meals whenever I can, so slowly, slowly.

Anyways, when I was in Singapore about six months ago, I noticed a campaign “go vegetarian and save the planet” – interesting but I didn’t really think about it much after that. Then I was reading this article on going vego and did you know that 40 per cent of global warming can be attributed to farmed foods? That’s amazing! And people get up in arms over air travel, but it doesn’t even come close.

It is the methane (or pooh dust as we like to call it in our house thanks to my sister,) from cows and sheep, causing all this ruckus and that’s because we consume an incredible amount of meat. The ideal amount for a woman is about 50KG a year – so a little more than a super model weighs. Currently the average woman – in Australia at least – is eating about 116KG of meat – so that’s a chunky man with nice muscles or one with a large beer paunch. A frightening amount of meat whatever way you look at it.

I have to apologise to the lads, as this info was from a chic’s mag, there were no details for you fellas, but I’m sure you could probably double it.

One initiative that’s been kicked off, and you probably already know about it but I’m obviously out of the loop, is Meatless Monday’s. I thought right, we can do that easily, so Steve came home on Monday to veggie pasta and he liked it.

My challenge now is working out vego meals that we can all eat and enjoy more often, but in the meantime, veggie pasta once a week is definitely something I can do. Although to keep things interesting, it’s probably time to buy some veggie cookbooks.

You know we can recycle everything, use those fancy light bulbs, put on water saving shower heads, but if we eat meat every day, we’re not really making a difference. Methane is more damaging than CO2 emissions, because it is 62 per cent more potent, and over lengthy periods that starts to add up.

I know it’s relevant to any discussion where cutting out meat is concerned, but I’m not even going to talk about farming techniques. It’s such a big topic in its own right and I only try to buy great meat anyway. But that’s still no guarantee I haven’t eaten one of those animals that can’t reach its food because it can’t walk due to its overly large breasts, or extended rump, or….

Right that’s it. I’m jumping on the bandwagon to save the planet with less meat, but also because it’s just healthier too. Anyone wanna to join me who isn’t already?

Yours, without the bollocks
Andrea