#Meatfreeweek From Around the World...

Meat-Free Week (1-8 August 2016) is about making the choice to eat less meat, care more and feel good. Going meat free for one week creates a great opportunity to get people thinking about how much meat they eat and the impact eating too much meat may have. With education, awareness and the information to make informed choices, the goal is that for the other 51 weeks of the year meat-eaters will consider portion sizes when including meat as part of a balanced diet and filling the plate with more plants and veggies! Or think about adopting a meatless Monday and challenge yourself to find new and delicious ways to incorporate vegetables, grains, pulses and herbs into you and your family's meals.

Ending the week strong with a handful of inspirational ideas from my Food Revolution family around the world!

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This is the second week in a row for this salad at Julie's house! She revived it again especially for ‪#‎meatfreeweek‬ because it was so tasty! An Indian-style salad made with radishes, cucumber, chickpeas, cilantro, pomegranates, and a zingy dressing of fresh lemon juice, oil, salt, toasted mustard seeds, and the Indian spice blend, Chaat Masala. Replace with blueberries rather than pomegranates, as pomegranates can be tough to come by this time of year around here. It is just as delicious! 

Give it a go if you are looking for a satisfying, yet refreshing salad for the week! The original recipe comes from the cookbook, "Made In India". I say, how beautiful and appetizing!

Photo Credit: Julie Ann Cockburn, Super Ambassador USA

Here were the contributions from Ambassador Peru Jesica Winitzky (from top left to right, bottom left to right): Ceviche de Champiñones (mushroom ceviche), quinoa stuffed gourds, and a savoury "anything goes" pie!!!... For dessert Thai sticky rice with mango☺️ yum! A lot of different deeelish ideas to inspire the vegetarian in you! Wonderful!

Photo Credit: Jesica Winitzky, Ambassador Peru

Mira Jarrar, Ambassador Jordan taught how to cook many meatless dishes that would serve a college boy's life well 😁. There were many techniques practiced at their first college food cooking course-- mushroom scrambled eggs, vegetable omelet with cheese (learning how to flip it), cooked fava beans with tomato, lentil soup, low-fat tuna sandwich with multi-grain bread and Mira's mother's festival sandwich. The spread looks amazing and healthy! What tremendous work teaching the basics to give freshmens a great start in cooking for themselves and eating right! Bravo!

Photo Credit: Mira Jarrar, Super Ambassador Jordan

Easy, fast, healthy, delicious-- Ratatouille! Ratatouille is sometimes eaten as a hearty meal of its own accompanied by pasta, rice or bread. It can consist of a variety of veggies such tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant, bell peppers flavoured with garlic and onions and herbs such as marjoram, fennel and basil, or bay leaf and thyme, or a mix of green herbs like herbes de Provence. It is typically prepared as a stew of squash, with each vegetable being sautéed separately before being layered into a baking dish and baked. Ambassador Argentina Maria's version of the recipe can be found on http://cocinasaludable.info. #‎naturaliamariaelena‬

Photo Credit: Maria Elena Ledesma, Super Ambassador Argentina

Lovely Prachi, Super Ambassador Dubai says in her Food Revolution post: Time to Give Vegetables A Fair Chance! its not about giving up meat entirely but welcoming vegetables on your plate and finding ways to enjoy its vast variety and flavours. Her article inspires us with ideas to take veggies from ho-hum to yum yum from dips to warm salads to curries!

Photo Credit: Prachi Grover, Super Ambassador Dubai

Here in Toronto, I was serving up rice burgers-- rice patties made with a mixture of minced vegetables served in a whole wheat pita and veggie crudites on the side.

For more on trying out plant-based foods, getting more fruits and veggies in your meals and seeing whether a meat-reduced diet is for you, check out www.meatfreeweek.org for additional inspirational ideas and recipes. How about further tempting meat-free dishes with fresh herbs-- see posts in my series on fresh herbs and veggies and trying or increasing soy products (tofu) in your meals as a great meat-alternative in my post The Wonderful Textured World of Tofu.