A complete guide to plant-based eating

Taste For Life: Eat Kindly, Tread Lightly, Live Well is a complete guide to plant-based eating compiled by Animals Australia, which is Australia’s leading animal protection organisation representing forty member groups.

One in four Australians is now either eating less meat or participating in a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle.

In three parts this book is easy to read and understand:

• Part 1 – Food for thought, explains the benefits of a plant-based diet.
• Part 2 – Getting started, explains the variety, journey and hurdles.
• Part 3- Over 100 recipes to try.

Taste for Life is beautifully photographed and takes the reader through benefits to health, the environmental impact of reducing or ceasing our consumption of animals and reduction of animal cruelty.

Health benefits of meat-free meals include weight loss, a healthier heart and a reduced rate of diabetes and cancer. Overuse of antibiotics in animal husbandry lead to less effective antibiotics so superbugs have increased resistance.

If you have ever suffered food poisoning after eating chicken it is possibly due to the slaughter of them. Food standards Australia New Zealand estimate four out of five portions of raw chicken meat in Australia are contaminated with faecal bacteria when slaughtered.

The environmental impacts of taking up a plant-based lifestyle are explained in detail. Animals eat more food than they produce by an average of 6 times. Animal production for food contributes more to global warming than all of the world’s cars, trains and planes combined. The methane produced by cows and sheep is 25 times more potent than CO2. Livestock also contributes to soil erosion and water pollution.

Deforestation to graze livestock increases habitat destruction. According to the World Health Organisation, one in three people are malnourished. However, 1/3 of cereal is fed to farmed animals.

The writers give details of the cruelty inflicted on animals bred for meat, milk and eggs. For example, meat chickens are bred to grow so quickly that their legs can’t hold them.

Part 2 gives advice how to start, including part-time or full-time. There are hints on how to stay focused and jump the hurdles, eating out and adjusting your meat recipes to plant-based are described in detail. Variety to nourish your body is illustrated,  as well as serving tips. A section is devoted to tofu, cooking dried beans and oils.

In part 3, the recipes are well designed and in sections. Although they are designed for vegans they can be adapted to vegetarians, such as me, where eggs and milk are still in the diet. The recipes have tips throughout. There is also a recipe on how to make dairy free cheese.

My favourite part of Taste for Life is part 1 as there are interesting facts about meat production and its effect on our lives. And so it should be, as part 1 leads to the other 2 parts.

This book is informative and easy to read. I would recommend it to not only those intending to change to a plant-based diet, but anyone interested in their health, environment and those who oppose animal cruelty.

Taste For Life: Eat Kindly, Tread Lightly, Live Well, compiled by Animals Australia, is available now from Dymocks. Click here to learn more.