With the impending doom of climate change and everyone’s last second scrambling to reduce their carbon footprints, people are doing what they can to stall what international scientists are calling inevitable.
One of the easiest ways to “save the planet”—other than remembering to bring your reusable bag to the grocery store and a reusable water bottle everywhere—is to eat a more plant-based diet.
Earlier this year, CTV published an article that announced more than 3 million Canadians identify as vegetarian or vegan.
That’s almost 10 per cent of Canadians who are not eating meat! This is incredible, especially considering the environmental impact of raising, shipping, and packaging meat.
And earlier this week, CBC let everyone know that prices in supermarkets are changing, specifically the prices of vegetables are increasing by about six per cent, while meat and seafood prices are decreasing by about two per cent.
CBC speculated that the price hikes are from the rising trend of Canadians turning towards a more plant-based diet. Studies suggest that about 33 per cent of Canadians considered eating less meat, so it is no surprise that meat is about to get cheaper.
To be clear: this is a step in the wrong direction, but is nothing new in the name of health.
I’m sure you’ve seen a vegan or a vegetarian restaurant like Pure Kitchen and The Table and have noticed pretty high prices for things you can purchase at the grocery store for about $2/lb.
We have always paid a premium for healthy foods, and that’s not even getting into vegan and gluten-free options yet.
Vegan cheese on a $15 gourmet pizza at Tennessy Willems in Hintonburg is $4 extra, and getting gluten-free crust is an additional $4.
(And we should also talk about the price of vegan leather—which is just faux leather—but that’s a different story!)
To the many Canadians who already think that healthy eating is harder to do—harder to cook, harder to season, harder to afford—a rise in the price of vegetables is only going to discourage them further.
I myself have tried to reduce how much meat I buy, and while it is challenging, it also feels rewarding.
On days where I eat plant-based foods only, I never feel bloated, I eat a lot more, and I have more energy for school work and the gym. However, on days where I am short on time, eating something that is mostly meat is more filling, which is a time saver and also cheaper because I have to eat less of it.
For Canadian families who eat to survive, I can see the appeal in cheaper meat. But Canada needs to stop treating healthy eating as a privilege.
Plant-based diets are linked to reduced risks in heart disease and high cholesterol and it’s better for the environment if we eat more plant-based foods.
In the wake of alarming news on climate change, making vegetables more affordable is a necessity.
