The majority of Canadians consume beef.
About seven per cent of Canadians occasionally eat meat and fish — flexitarians, compared to the three per cent who are vegans, according to a on beef consumption in Canada, from Dalhousie University's Agri-Food Analytics Lab in partnership with Angus Reid.
Compared to other provinces, the study found that British Columbia had the lowest rate of beef eaters, at 58 per cent.
Despite a strong presence of beef consumers, some Canadians have considered eliminating beef from their diets.
Overall, researchers found that 46 per cent of meat-eating Canadians have thought about cutting beef out for the environment. But this statistic increases when looking at Canadians younger than 35, at 66 per cent.
Implementing eco-friendly foods in diets
In recent years, many Canadians have attempted to change certain aspects of their diets to reduce their carbon footprints: shopping local, avoiding plastic packaging, or reducing their meat consumption.
The conversation about food and climate change is complex and nuanced.
But one B.C. scientist says that some specific food items are better for the environment in terms of their impacts on land, biodiversity, greenhouse gasses, and water use.
Plant-based diets is one way of eating that Tara Moreau, associate director of Sustainability and Community programs at the UBC Botanical Garden, believes in.
“Eat lots of different types of plants, not just kale. I know kale has been so incredibly popular. But for me, and we know from a conservation point of view, that plants are conserved when they're used,” she says.
“Beans, lentils, and peas, many of them fix nitrogen and can be added to the soil and do not require as many nutrients as other food plants.”
Another specific food is millets. In fact, two years ago, the that 2023 is the international year of millets.
Moreau says that some will be grown in the UBC Botanical Garden.
“We're not the ideal climate for millets. But we're going to try it.”
The UN chose millets because they are a climate-friendly food, one that can grow under arid conditions, “in soils that are difficult to grow in,” says Moreau.
For this reason, the intergovernmental organization concluded that millets will be an ideal solution for self-sufficiency, and climate change resiliency.
Which plant-based milk is better?
Since 2009, there has been a decline in overall dairy milk sales across the country, according to Statistics Canada. This may have been because Canadians had more access to non-dairy milk alternatives than before.
The increase in sales for non-dairy milk substitutes has increased in Canada and the United States. reveals that between 2018 and 2021, “there were 161 milk alternative beverages launched in Canada.” And experts forecast an increase in years to come based on available historical data.
Before the 2010s, people might have resorted to coconut, almond, or soy milk. A decade later, consumers have access to a plethora of non-dairy milks, including oat, cashew, rice, hemp, pea, quinoa and macadamia.
A from the University of Oxford found that plant-based milks are better for the planet. Researchers found that one glass of dairy milk produces three times more greenhouse gas emissions than plant-based counterparts. In terms of production, dairy milk requires nine times more land than non-dairy milk products.
Yet, this has also sparked conversations among the public about which substitutes are better for the planet.
According to the , almond milk uses more water in its production than oat, soy, and rice milk per glass. Rice milk produces the most emissions, with the other three milk alternatives closely behind.
Having these conversations is good, says Moreau. But “it all depends.”
“Where does the data and the information come from? If we're getting almond milk grown from an area that's experiencing a drought, and they're a heavy water plant, then that's challenging. This is a lot of hard information for an individual to make these choices,” she says.
“When you're comparing product to product, that's where we don't always have the most sophisticated data. Sometimes we're having these debates, but we're not always having the same processes to assess the impacts of a particular product.”
UBC is currently piloting a climate-friendly label as part of its Climate Action Plan to help consumers make well-informed choices in an overly saturated world.
“It's to take all of the complicated metrics because behind all of that information, there's this complex process called lifecycle analysis, where you look at behind the various types of milk that might be available,” explains Moreau.
“What are all the resources that go in? What are all the greenhouse gases, the nutrients and water? We're trying to get a more holistic understanding of those things,” she says.
This not only takes away the guessing game for consumers, but it still offers them information to compare “the apples to oranges.”
Plant-based or reducing food waste?
Moreau follows a flexiterian diet: eating predominantly plant-based but still consuming meat from time to time.
The scientist believes that eating vegan, or more plant-based, is more climate-friendly. But she is more concerned about reducing food waste.
“I would pick other battles, I would much rather reduce our food waste and be really advocating for sustainable farming systems than sort of fighting over ‘this vegan diet is better for the following reasons.’ I feel like sometimes that's the wrong debate we're having.”
Food waste is a real issue in Canada.
A 2019 report from Environment and Climate Change Canada found that 58 per cent — 35.5 million tonnes — of all food produced in the country goes to waste each year. One-third of that waste is avoidable.
The United Nations' Food Waste Index from 2021 notes that Canadian household waste is 79 kg per capita.
“We've gotten in the habit of over purchasing, we need a full fridge,” says Moreau.
One skill for food waste reduction is meal planning, which also helps to reduce cost of food.
But with any slow movement, time is important.
“My philosophy is to create a positive relationship with food. We live such busy lives: how can we bring in meal planning or cooking in a way that it becomes a bit relaxing, a time to connect with your family, a time to do something?”
It’s easy to grab and go, especially when life gets busy — some more than others. This is where marketing might be able to move the needle, suggests Moreau.
“How do we market a little bit of the slow food movement? Slow down, enjoy your food, enjoy cutting up and using all the vegetables that are in your fridge before they go bad?”
As such, Moreau believes in the impact of individual choice.
“We are sort of told that individuals don't make a difference. If we're buying food, we're spending money on a system, and where we spend money is power, right?” she explains.
“A lot of people are like, ‘What's my impact as an individual? I don't make a lot of impact.’ And I think, ‘look at your money and look at your waste. That's an impact.’”
