Food Sustainability

By 2050 the world’s population is expected to reach 10 billion. This means that by 2050 the earth will need to feed 3 billion more people. Meat is not very sustainable. It takes 1,799 GALLONS of water to produce ONE POUND of beef and 576 GALLONS of water to produce ONE POUND of pork. On top of this, cattle take up almost 27% of the world’s landmass and eat loads of grains that could feed millions of people. Meat is just not sustainable. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t eat ANY meat just that eating less would go a long way towards making food more sustainable. I’m going to show you how to make two non-meat dishes that are just as easy as their meat counterpart.

Lentil burger

What you will need:
Can of lentils
2 eggs
One small onion
One clove of garlic
Hot peppers
3/4 cups of bread crumbs

Steps:

Step 1 – Dice hot peppers, onion and garlic

Step 2 – Put drained lentils, cracked eggs, onion, garlic, hot peppers, and bread crumbs in a bowl.

Step 3 – Mix the ingredients thoroughly. I like to mix them with a spoon but you can mix them in a mixing bowl or with your hands

Step 4 – Shape patties out of the mix

Step 5 – OIl a pan and put on medium heat. Cook patties for 5-7 minutes on each side or until toasty brown.

Step 6 – Dress the burger as you wish. You can do the traditional burger toppings, tomato, cheese, pickles, etc

This dish could be any kind of meat substitute, not just a burger. You could easily make it into meatballs (roll it into balls instead of patties and bake in oven)

Eggplant schnitzel

What you will need:
Eggplant
Egg
Flour
Bread crumbs
Garlic powder
Chilli powder
Black pepper

Steps:

Step 1 – Peel and cut the eggplant into one centimetre thick slices.

Step 2 – Sprinkle salt on the eggplant slices and let it sit for 30 mins or until water droplets forms on the eggplant. This helps draw the water out of the eggplant so it is not as watery when you eat it. Wipe the water off of the eggplant with a clean paper towel.

Step 3 – Set out bread crumbs, flour and raw eggs (scrambled) on to three separate plates or bowls. Mix black pepper, chilli powder and garlic powder into the flour.

Step 4 – Coat the eggplant in the flour mixture, then dip the eggplant in the eggs and finally cover the eggplant in bread crumbs and set aside.

Step 5 – OIl a pan and cook on medium heat for 10 minutes on each side or until toasty brown

Step 6 – Eat. You could serve this as a replacement of pork schnitzel, on top of pasta as eggplant parmesan, or even eat it on a sandwich.

These recipes are so simple and are really easy to make. My family eat meat and I can throw these easy meals together when they aren’t willing to cook vegetarian. Eating less meat will greatly benefit our planet.