Tips for Cutting Back on The Meat

I get asked all the time how to cut back on meat gradually. I always recommend swapping one or two ingredients or meals at a time, and then, when you’ve succeeded at those, swapping some more. So:

Use vegan spread in place of unhealthy butter
Use soymilk in place of cow’s milk in coffee (lots of non-vegans do this, since many people believe soymilk tastes better and blends better with coffee – after you get used to the soy, cow’s milk tastes strong and feels greasy in coffee)
Eat salad for lunch one day a week (Bacos are vegan!)

This New York Times article by “Miniminalist” cookbook author Mark Bittman offers more great tips:

1. Forget the protein thing. Roughly simultaneously with your declaration that you’re cutting back on meat, someone will ask “How are you going to get enough protein?” The answer is “by being omnivorous.” Plants have protein, too; in fact, per calorie, many plants have more protein than meat…On average, Americans eat about twice as much as the 56 grams of daily protein recommended by the United States Department of Agriculture (a guideline that some nutritionists think is too high). For anyone eating a well-balanced diet, protein is probably not an issue.

2. Buy less meat…Remember that most traditional styles of cooking use meat as a condiment or a treat. This is true in American frontier cooking, where salt pork and bacon were used to season beans; in Italy, where a small piece of meat is served as a secondo (rarely more than a few ounces, even in restaurants); and around the world, where bits of meat are added to stir-fries and salads, as well as bean, rice and noodle dishes. In all of these cases, meat is seen as a treasure, not as something to be gobbled up as if it were air.

3. Get it out of the center of the plate…Build the meal around what you used to consider side dishes — not only vegetables, but also grains, beans, salads and even dessert, if you consider fruit a dessert — rather than the meat. Nearly every culture has dishes in which meat is used to season rice or another grain. Consider dirty rice, fried rice, pilaf, biryani, arroz con pollo: the list is almost endless.

4. Buy more vegetables, and learn new ways to cook them.

5. Make nonmeat items as convenient as meat….By thinking ahead, and working ahead, you can make cooking vegetables as convenient as what in India is often called “non-veg.” Spend an hour or two during the course of the week precooking all the nonmeat foods you think take too long for fast dinners.

6. Make some rules. Depending on your habits, it may be no bacon at breakfast; it may be no burgers at lunch; it may be no fast food, ever; it may be “eat a salad instead of a sandwich three times a week,” or “eat a vegetarian dinner three times a week.” It may mean meatless Fridays. It may mean (this is essentially what I do) meatless breakfasts and lunches and all-bets-are-off dinners.

7. Go to restaurants that don’t feature meat-heavy dishes.