There’s an odd irony in my mostly-vegan diet: It ups my plastic packaging waste.
Yes, I realize most meat-eating Americans also create a lot of plastic waste, buying factory-farmed meat slabs encased in styrofoam and plastic wrap. But more eco-conscious non-vegetarians can get minimally-packaged, locally-grown meat and free range organic eggs in reusable cartons at my farmers’ market. Such options, unfortunately, aren’t available for tofu eaters — unless they make their own tofu.
I still eat quite a lot of tofu — the locally-made kind (though not from locally-grown soybeans) available at Co-opportunity. But to reduce plastic waste, I’ve been eating more beans this year — which I can scoop into a reusable bag at the bulk section of my local co-op to make zero-waste, protein-rich meals.
This change has also made me more wary of overpackaged, overprocessed vegan fake meats.
Obviously, plastic packaging waste isn’t the only issue when it comes to food-related environmental concerns. In general, a vegan diet tends to have a lower carbon footprint — simply because factory-farmed beef has such an enormous carbon footprint. But that general statement definitely has its exceptions — meaning that how green a meat eater’s or vegan’s diet really is depends on what exactly that meat eater or vegan is chewing on.
In fact, Slate’s Green Lantern looked into how green tofu is compared to animal protein sources. Of course, tofu came out the green winner by far when compared to factory-farmed beef. But when compared to chicken and fish, vegetarian protein products didn’t always come out ahead:
Last year, the Dutch government commissioned a study of the environmental effects of vegetarian “meat substitutes,” including veggie burgers, Quorn, and tofu. According to the analysis, a kilogram of tofu sold in the Netherlands produces about two kilograms of carbon-dioxide equivalent (PDF) from the farm to the supermarket. That’s only a little less than Dutch chicken, at 3 kilograms of CO2-equivalent per kilogram of meat. Mackerel, herring, pollock, and mussels—some of which the Lantern has already championed as low-carbon options for seafood lovers—scored about the same or better than tofu. That’s a much smaller difference than the Lantern would have expected.
Here’s a PDF of the English summary of the Dutch study, which is a pretty interesting read overall (Dairy products, for example, don’t score much better than meat — which is somewhat sad news for lacto-ovo vegetarians). Tofu sold in the Netherlands tends to come from South America though, so if I’m eating tofu made from soybeans grown in the U.S. then patted into tofu form locally, my protein would be greener. And since I always opt for organic tofu, I get eco-points for that too.
That said, if I’m instead eating processed fake meats — most of which are made in Taiwan then shipped here in plastic packaging — my vegan protein would likely be less green than the Dutch tofu. And if I compare that processed fake meat to, say, an organic egg from a neighbor’s backyard chicken, it seems pretty likely that the egg would win the green contest.
And if I decided to down my fake meat meal with water-polluting Coke and douse my dessert in mercury-tainted Hershey’s chocolate syrup, my meal would still be vegan but decidedly not green — or healthy.
All this is to say that while vegetarianism and veganism can usually help people move toward a much greener diet, it’s not necessarily always the greenest diet. Overprocessed, overpackaged foods just can’t be considered that green, even when they’re vegan.
I’m at all suggesting we give up organic tofu. I still think it’s one of the greenest protein options out there, and I eat tofu myself practically every day. I have, however, pretty much stopped buying soy hot dogs and other veg meat products, most of which are highly processed with many ingredients I can’t pronounce, loaded down with salt, transported from far away and hugged by plastic to boot. I also hope to reduce the number of knee-jerk reactions like this comment so we can have more productive, honest conversations about eco-friendly eating.
Whether vegan or carnivore or somewhere in between, what are you doing in 2010 to make your diet greener?
Photo by mia!/Flickr
I went veg in November and am eating a mostly vegan diet since January. When I say mostly vegan I mean at home I eat vegan but if I go out I will on occasion eat pineapple fried rice with eggs or a bean and cheese burrito things like that.
My plastic intake is a lot less at home but tofu and “fake” meats do bring in more plastic than I like. I haven’t been eating much tofu in the past two weeks because I picked up chickenless nuggets and some boca burger patties. At least with the tofu I buy the packaging is recyclable curbside where as the patties come in multiple bags in a box and the nuggets come in one big plastic bag that aren’t recyclable.
Comment by mudnessa — February 9, 2010 @ 3:58 pm
It sounds like our diets are pretty similar. My home kitchen’s pretty much vegan — Every few months I’ll buy a half dozen eggs at the farmers’ market, and once in a blue moon I’ll get canned tuna (much less now due to BPA and mercury concerns), and like once a year I’ll buy a salmon fillet on a whim, cook it once, then decide it’s too much of a hassle to make myself until about a year later when I no longer remember what a hassle it was to clean up.
But I do eat eggs when I go out for brunch, do eat seafood in restaurants (I try to stick to the Seafood Watch Guide), and have started eating chicken, if I know it’s free range. I used to be a pescatarian for a long time but sometimes the fish options aren’t green and the veg options are covered in cheese (I’m lactose intolerant). I had chicken a couple months ago at a friend’s bday dinner at Pete’s.
Comment by Siel — February 9, 2010 @ 4:21 pm
I think it’s great that you put so much thought into this (I’ve been shocked at the lengthy ingredient list on faux-meat products myself). Definitely better to eat regular tofu. Speaking of your increased bean consumption, what do you usually do with them? Do you eat them by themselves or tend to mix them into soups or something? I must admit, I’ve never made dried beans before in my life, but I understand it’s not too difficult…
Comment by Zandria — February 10, 2010 @ 5:34 am
The biggest thing I’m doing this year is trying to be much more conscious and careful to no throw away food. It’s still a work in progress and it helps that my boyfriend is eating more meals at my place – buying some foods can be really frustrating if you are generally in a 1 person household because some things come in set quantities and it’s easy for me to overestimate my desire to eat the same thing all week long! The game is figuring out how to do that – sometimes I end up dehydrating things, sticking something in the freezer, going to different stores or setting aside a quantity of food before it’s “assembled” into the finished dish. Coming up with an arsenal of flexible recipes helps as well.
I have pet rats and when doing research on their diet, I came across instructions to not feed them “bulk tofu” because of bacterial content when compared to single pack of tofu. I have yet to actually find this mystical “bulk tofu” in stores however. Have you ever heard of a store carrying it? It seems like it might include less packaging.
Comment by M — February 10, 2010 @ 6:35 am
Hey Zandria — Easiest way to eat beans = toss them into a salad :) Add salsa and voila — a taco salad sans meat! :) And yes, getting dry beans and cooking them is v. easy — especially compared to lugging heavy cans of beans from the grocery store up the stairs! :P (Also, cans = BPA)
M — I hear you about things coming in set quantities! This is why I especially love the farmers’ market — You can buy just one carrot and don’t have to buy a whole bunch! Co-opportunity also offers most produce items loose, though I realize you’re pretty far from Santa Monica –
I too have not seen any mystical bulk tofu — but I will look for it specifically next time I’m in the Korean supermarket! Most of the tofu there’s sold in plastic packs like everywhere else, but there is a pretty big deli / prepped food section, and I’m wondering maybe they have bulk tofu there –
Comment by Siel — February 10, 2010 @ 4:12 pm
My husband and I ate vegan for 6 months, in large part due to our efforts to reduce our contribution to climate change – but I had the same problem with the plastic wrapping. We’ve now switched to a diet heavy on veggies and whole grains, but we also eat local organic chicken (wrapped in paper from the meat counter) and local free range organic eggs, which I think has much less of an enviornmental impact than our non-local heavily packaged soy products. We also eat dairy, which I feel somewhat guilty about, but at least we get it in glass bottles from a local dairy whose practices have the lowest greenhouse gas foot print I’ve ever seen from a dairy. This only works for us because we aren’t vegan…
I wish there was a simple answer to these sorts of questions, but for now I guess the best solution is to stay as informed as we can, and make the best choices we can.
Comment by Green Fish — February 15, 2010 @ 2:38 pm
Green Fish — Those sound like smart changes, as long as you’re using the whole chicken :) That’s amazing that you have a local dairy you can get milk from — Do they reuse the glass bottles?
Your comment reminds me of the couple that started the 100 mile diet and their book Plenty, reviewed here. They were actually vegans before the experiment, but through their eco-experiment came to incorporate local poultry / eggs / milk :)
Comment by Siel — February 16, 2010 @ 5:10 pm
I’ve had the same issue with going vegan.. It bothers me that so much of my diet has become processed vegetable protein. I’ve been working hard to cook according to season. That means more trips to the farmer’s market but it also means less packaging in my trash and less chemicals in my diet.
Comment by Natalie Aldern — February 22, 2010 @ 8:07 pm
Bulk beans have been v. helpful for me, since they’re easy to cook en masse and freeze to use as needed :)
Comment by Siel — February 23, 2010 @ 4:02 pm