Eating Sustainably – Vegetarian, Local, Organic, Sustainable Seafood, etc.

“Can Vegetarians Save the World?” on guardian.co.uk : http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/may/16/ghent-belgium-vegetarian-town-environment

To lower my carbon footprint, I will try to eat vegetarian at least once per week. No intention to cut out meat entirely, but I’ll do my part. Will also be trying to incorporate sustainable seafood into my cooking. See the bottom of this post for an interesting conversation I had with a company that produces Kiwi Mussels (a sustainable seafood option).

I’ll keep track on this blog of my progress. This shouldn’t be hard at all, as I find cooking meat the most bothersome part of making a meal. Unfortunately my household will still be eating a lot of meat, as my husband will not be converted. That and he’s on nurse’s orders to eat extra protein for wound healing post-surgery, as well as for keeping his iron levels up. But I often don’t feel the need to eat meat anyway, so this should be easy.

I will rate my cooking creations on a scale of “Disgusting”, “Passable”, “Good”, or “DELICIOUS”. Also will note vegan meals.

Monday May 18th, 2009
Breakfast – Soup Noodles with green onions, ginger, olive oil and parmesan cheese – DELICIOUS
Lunch – Rice with marinated pressed tofu, zucchini and brussel sprouts – DELICIOUS and Vegan

Sustainable Seafood - take a gander at http://www.seachoice.org/ for information on choosing options that help maintain the health of the oceans and not contribute to overfishing/overharvesting, by-catch, and scraping of ocean floors etc etc.

I bought some Pacifica brand frozen kiwi mussels produced in…where else? KiwiLand of course – New Zealand. I was very pleased that it was labled with a “sustainable seafood” logo and all that, but when I got home, I was dismayed to find that the plastic packaging was made from #7 “Other” plastic, which is not easily recyclable, and may find its way into one of our ocean’s landfills – see  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_Garbage_Patch . So I sent them an email and received a nice reply from their Americas/Asia sales rep, Matthew Hewitt, stating the following:

“Hi Beverly

Thanks for the contact.

I understand and accept your comments re #7 plastic.

It is a recyclable but not as easily recycled as other plastics.

The issue for us is the fact that we must freeze the plastic for up to 2 years. At this stage we can not get other plastics to do this.

But believe me our plastic supplier is working on that solution.

We are aware of the publics issue with #7 and thus want to change that as soon as we can. We are committed to the environment, our farming and production practices are all geared to zero impact.

The #7 plastic is the last hurdle for us.

But thanks for using our product, I hope you found the quality good and hope you will support us again.

All the best, Matthew Hewitt”

which was really nice of him. So they’re working on it. Good to know. I like it when you write to some big company and they actually send a personal reply from halfway around the world.

Buying Local: really liking Simon Fraser University’s Local Food Project http://sfulocalfood.ca/ . Went to their “Pocket Farmer’s Market” last wednesday – a neat concept – and have purchased my Harvest Box for the month of May.

Buying Organic: well, little bits here and there from Safeway’s Organic selection.

Growing Food: my in-laws are starting a garden at their home in Langley. Very exciting.

Composting: am a fan of NatureMill’s Automatic Indoor Composter. Steep price ($200CDN+) but showed my mom in law the website yesterday, and she’s thinking about it…I don’t have a garden right now, so it wouldn’t be prudent for me to get one of my own. Reduces your household waste by 2/3rds by composting all your organic waste (except bones, citrus and peach pits).

So, those are my thoughts on sustainable eating today. What are your thoughts?

Quick Coconut Quasi Curry with Shrimp and Brocolli

Yummo! Felt hungry and cooked something today. This turned out to be the fastest curry-ish dish ever, and it is absolutely delicious. You could probably do it in 10 minutes. I am not a big fan of tablespoons and teaspoons, so i’ve provided some rough measurements. Don’t break out your measuring spoons for this. It’s more fun this way.

Ingredients for 1 serving
Rice noodles (i used thin rice vermicelli)
Cooking oil
Garam Masala*
Coconut milk
Ketchup
Shrimp or Prawns (I used precooked and frozen)
Brocolli (cut up into little pieces)
Garlic Powder
Chili Powder

*I buy whole spice garam masala, and keep some ground for quick use. This way, it’s the un-roasted kind that releases its flavor when you cook it in oil in step 2.

In pot:
1. Boil the rice noodles. I used the thinnest kind of rice vermicelli, which cooks in like 2 minutes. Amazing. Drain.
In pan:
2. Heat some cooking oil in a pan, and add the garam masala. ~2 tsp of each. Cook for 2 mins. Don’t burn the GM.
3. Add coconut milk. ~1/4 can.
4. Add some ketchup. ~2 quick circles of the pan.
5. Add frozen precooked shrimp/prawns.
6. Add brocolli florets.
7. Add some chili and garlic powder.

The quasi curry is done cooking when the prawns have defrosted and the brocolli looks cooked. I say quasi because real curry always seems to take longer than 10 minutes to cook, which I never have time for.

Try this and send feedback.

Eat!