<story><title>Eat less meat: UN climate change report calls for change to human diet</title><url>https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-02409-7</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>Pxtl</author><text>Yeah, as a vegetarian I can do some awesome things with lentils, but I remember the days when I could rub some spice on a pork chop and throw it on the grill and then have something boxed and starchy on the side and have a pretty decent meal.&lt;p&gt;Meanwhile, a good lentil stew is a much more involved project.  Much less home-made veggie burger patties which have dozens of ingredients and elaborate preparation processes.&lt;p&gt;Going full vegan is even harder, because cheese is a pretty good shortcut to making hearty food.</text></item><item><author>TheBeardKing</author><text>We&amp;#x27;ve been trying to cut our meat consumption, but the cooking complexity is exactly my issue. We&amp;#x27;re lazy but healthy eaters, meaning our regular entrees are a meat and a couple veggie sides. We also do low carb, mainly because it&amp;#x27;s just easier to limit calorie intake that way. Most of the dinner work is usually cutting and preparing vegetables. When we cut meat, it cuts the main portion of the entree, which can sometimes be filled with baked potato, corn on the cob, some quinoa thing, but it&amp;#x27;s not as satisfying and gets boring. We don&amp;#x27;t like buying processed foods, and soups without meat are nearly a no-go for me. But hey, I&amp;#x27;m limiting consumption so I guess I&amp;#x27;m doing my part.</text></item><item><author>mark_l_watson</author><text>At least in the USA, this could in principle be fixed by ending the corporate welfare state. Old news, but All major industries like the beef industry get huge tax breaks, free water and other giveaways at the general taxpayer’s expense.&lt;p&gt;Fixing the corruption (both democratic and republican parties) in our our political would end up helping the environment a lot. That said, we have zero chance of fixing our corrupt political system. It will never happen, the elites have won that war.&lt;p&gt;One problem with reducing meat consumption is the general low skill level for cooking. Vegetarian food can taste better than meat dishes but you need skill and good ingredients. I have mixed feelings about Beyond Meat: my wife and I love the hot Italian sausage and burgers, but it is really not that healthy.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>alisonatwork</author><text>I felt similarly to you when i first decided to try eating mostly vegan a few years back. One of my go-to meals was a cheese sandwich. It tastes great, you can&amp;#x27;t beat the speed of prep and it&amp;#x27;s not completely unhealthy. But now i realize there are plenty of other fast things that hit the spot that actually i already knew how to make but i never really saw as go-to meals before.&lt;p&gt;Here are some examples.&lt;p&gt;I know it&amp;#x27;s a punchline these days, but i grew up in the 80s eating avocado toast. You want more flavor? Just spread some marmite or vegemite.&lt;p&gt;The Tex-Mex take is to smash that avo with corn chips and salsa. Miss the cheese? Put some silky tofu. Think of it like queso fresco. Hey, you can also slice it on tomato with vinegar to make caprese salad.&lt;p&gt;What about beans on toast? If you&amp;#x27;re not a bread person, something i used to cook in my student days is can of beans, can of creamed corn, garlic, chili, soy, the end. It&amp;#x27;s hearty. It only takes 10 minutes. I still cook variations on that, sometimes with no corn or different beans. I like using sesame seeds to thicken it up, or pumpkin seeds for a different texture.&lt;p&gt;I also leverage peanut butter when i am feeling lazy. Spread it on some seaweed rice crackers for savory. You can put it on bread with sliced banana for sweet.&lt;p&gt;Real peanuts are great too. They are literally the first thing i throw in the wok. Oil. Peanuts. Garlic, ginger, chilis. Then the vegetable or mushroom or tofu or whatever. Or not, because just seasoned peanuts will go fine on top of whatever other vegan thing where you feel you&amp;#x27;re missing some crispy, oily, goodness.&lt;p&gt;There really is so much, and i think a lot of it is stuff most people already eat. I think the problem is that people tend to think of incidentally vegan dishes as somehow not being &amp;quot;real&amp;quot; meals, but that&amp;#x27;s a cultural bias that can be unlearned.</text></comment>
<story><title>Eat less meat: UN climate change report calls for change to human diet</title><url>https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-02409-7</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>Pxtl</author><text>Yeah, as a vegetarian I can do some awesome things with lentils, but I remember the days when I could rub some spice on a pork chop and throw it on the grill and then have something boxed and starchy on the side and have a pretty decent meal.&lt;p&gt;Meanwhile, a good lentil stew is a much more involved project.  Much less home-made veggie burger patties which have dozens of ingredients and elaborate preparation processes.&lt;p&gt;Going full vegan is even harder, because cheese is a pretty good shortcut to making hearty food.</text></item><item><author>TheBeardKing</author><text>We&amp;#x27;ve been trying to cut our meat consumption, but the cooking complexity is exactly my issue. We&amp;#x27;re lazy but healthy eaters, meaning our regular entrees are a meat and a couple veggie sides. We also do low carb, mainly because it&amp;#x27;s just easier to limit calorie intake that way. Most of the dinner work is usually cutting and preparing vegetables. When we cut meat, it cuts the main portion of the entree, which can sometimes be filled with baked potato, corn on the cob, some quinoa thing, but it&amp;#x27;s not as satisfying and gets boring. We don&amp;#x27;t like buying processed foods, and soups without meat are nearly a no-go for me. But hey, I&amp;#x27;m limiting consumption so I guess I&amp;#x27;m doing my part.</text></item><item><author>mark_l_watson</author><text>At least in the USA, this could in principle be fixed by ending the corporate welfare state. Old news, but All major industries like the beef industry get huge tax breaks, free water and other giveaways at the general taxpayer’s expense.&lt;p&gt;Fixing the corruption (both democratic and republican parties) in our our political would end up helping the environment a lot. That said, we have zero chance of fixing our corrupt political system. It will never happen, the elites have won that war.&lt;p&gt;One problem with reducing meat consumption is the general low skill level for cooking. Vegetarian food can taste better than meat dishes but you need skill and good ingredients. I have mixed feelings about Beyond Meat: my wife and I love the hot Italian sausage and burgers, but it is really not that healthy.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>LargeWu</author><text>I think the trick to reducing food prep labor is larger batches. Maybe that means you eat the same thing 4 or more times in a week. Or maybe that means you freeze some of it for later. But it doesn&amp;#x27;t really take any more work to make a 3x batch of lentil stew than it does to make the regular sized batch.</text></comment>