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South Africa pushes to eat more green

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A free “veggie challenge” is under way to encourage locals trying to quit meat.

So far 50 000 people have signed up in the past six months to take part in the ProVeg Veggie Challenge and the Veganuary initiative.

The idea is to make it easier for those considering quitting meat or reducing their intake.

ProVeg SA, the local chapter of ProVeg International, is a food awareness organisation that works to transform the global food system by replacing conventional animal products with plant-based and cultivated alternatives.

Donovan Will, director of ProVeg SA, said the vast majority of sign-ups were from big cities – Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban, in that order.

Eating plant-based foods is part of a worldwide movement in which people are choosing to eat less meat for environmental, health and ethical reasons.

Plant-based diets need a tiny fraction of the water and land needed to produce meat and cause much less pollution.

Will said that despite the well-documented benefits of “going green”, for most of locals, who have grown up in a country obsessed with meat, the idea of giving up or even reducing the amount of meat consumption, sounds a little scary.

All you have to do is sign up for a month-long challenge to eat no – or less – animal products, This might include meat, eggs and dairy, depending on the challenge.

Organisers send participants daily emails with recipes, tips and motivation to help keep them on the green journey.

Will said: “We’re a country that cares about our natural environment, and our health, so when we hear that there’s an easy way to make a big difference we are quick to sign up.”

The company’s Veganuary, the challenge to go vegan in January, resulted in more than 19 000 locals signing up this year.

The ProVeg Veggie Challenge – a free online challenge with options to sign up for a month of eating vegan, or vegetarian, or just a few meat-free days a week – has had more than 31 000 locals joining in the past six months.

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Although the Veggie Challenge will run throughout the year, ProVeg is planning a special launch next month, which will include several events for participants from Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban. These will include cooking courses, dinner parties and film screenings.

Will said the health benefits associated with eating plant-based foods included a reduced risk of chronic diseases, such as Type 2 diabetes and heart disease, and the environmental benefits were huge.

“Plant-based diets need a tiny fraction of the water and land needed to produce meat and cause much less pollution. And, for those who love animals, plant-based is obviously great because animals don’t need to be killed,” he said.

“There are so many new plant-based options that eating less meat is easier than it’s ever been. Products such as the Fry Family Food’s Chicken-Style Burger and Beyond Meat’s beef alternative burger are so good that meat eaters can’t even tell that they’re not eating meat,” Will said.

When asked about his view on environmentalists’ perspective that it is healthier to eat unprocessed plant-based diets or foods than imitation meat products, Will said: “From an environmental perspective, the processed plant-based options have a significantly lower total environmental footprint. From a health point of view, whole food plant-based options are usually the best – so unprocessed, plant-based food are healthier than the processed options.

The main reason we promote the processed imitation products is that they can be healthier and are more sustainable and ethical than meat. So, if someone is happy to give up meat and rather eat beans, legumes, tofu, mushrooms, nuts and seeds, instead of meat, then that is great. Many people still want the taste and texture of meat, so for them the imitation products are great.”

Responding to known complaints from vegans and vegetarians that their food and imitation meat products were usually prepared at some restaurants using the same equipment, Will said many restaurants were now using separate equipment for plant-based options, but for many of them this wasn’t viable economically.

“For strict vegans this can be an issue, but most people who eat these options are not very strict about cross-contamination; from a health and environmental point of view using the same equipment has little to no difference,” said Will.

“Buying a plant-based option from a restaurant that cooks meat with the same equipment is still a vote for a healthier, more sustainable and ethical option and it lets these outlets know that there is demand for these products.”


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