Malta Meat Free Week is held from the 18th to 24th October, encouraging people around the Maltese islands to give up meat for just one week.
Malta Meat Free Week is normally supported by shops and brands around the Maltese islands. So, why should you go meat-free for one week? What difference could one week possibly make? Meat Free Week is advocated worldwide, and it is no wonder that Malta Meat Free Week came to be.
The official World Meat Free Week is a little earlier, starting on the last week of September of every year. However, the message is the same; eating less meat substantially benefits our planet and our health. The benefits range from better heart health to a reduction in carbon footprint due to less land required to rear animals.
Going meat-free would have sounded difficult a couple of decades ago, but with so many great brands and recipe options nowadays, going meat-free has become so much easier. From easy-to-follow vegetarian recipes to meat-free food brands (such as Beyond Meat, Linda McCartney’s, Quorn and Moving Mountains), which are made to have the texture and taste of meat, the options are endless.
To encourage more people on the Maltese islands to participate in the Malta Meat Free Week, the restaurants and brands supporting this noble cause are making several offers available during this week. With popular brands such as Alpro, Heinz, Sheese, Green Cuisine, Linda McCartney’s and others, the recommendations at leading supermarkets will be very interesting. Several prizes can also be won if you use the #maltameatfreeweek to track your meat-free week progress on social media.
There are many benefits to joining the Malta Meat Free Week, and you have probably heard most of them already. It has been reported that consuming less meat can mean a lower risk of heart disease. Vegetarians are known to have a 25% lesser chance of dying from heart disease. That’s phenomenal! A lot of research suggests that going on a plant-based diet lowers the risk of diabetes.
As you may already know, consuming less meat would mean that less animals need to be reared for consumption. Veggy Malta reports that 6 million animals are killed every single hour. That’s about 150 million animals a day or 1 billion a week. Many livestock kept and reared for meat consumption are not exactly kept in the right conditions either. Animal rights is a good reason to give up that meat for a week.
If you already think you will be missing that meaty taste, don’t worry; we have some great plant-based vegetarian recipes coming up this week!
What is fascinating is the major impact a meat-free diet for a week can have on the planet. Most of us are lucky to have water at our disposal and, unfortunately, unaware of how limited water supplies are. It’s increasingly worrying that it is predicted that planet earth will only be able to provide us with 60% of the water we need by the start of the next decade. Remarkably, we don’t talk about this nearly as much as we should.
The question you must ask is, what does eating a plant-based vegetarian diet do with global water scarcity? In this day and time, it has been reported that 90% of the water used is utilised to grow food.
Interesting fact. For every beef burger (around 200 grams), you need around 3k litres of water. That’s a lot of water. Another interesting fact is that for every calorie of meat produced, you’d need ten times the number of water for one calorie of plant-based food.
If deforestation is a matter close to your heart, this will be very worrying and get you to join the Malta Meat Free Week. Growing livestock for meat consumption is the biggest reason for the ever-growing deforestation crisis we experience in the world, taking up 80% of land for agricultural purposes.
Following a plant-based vegetarian diet helps fight against deforestation. You need 326 square metres of land for one kilogram of beef. When you think about the average number of beef burgers consumed by the average person, that’s a lot of lands!
The decent thing to do is to watch our carbon footprint. Our carbon footprint is the carbon dioxide (CO2) (greenhouse gas emissions) we submit into the world due to our activities, such as what we eat and travel. Higher levels of greenhouse gas emissions create the greenhouse effect responsible for global warming and climate change.
The concerning news is that one kilogram of beef produces 60 kilograms of greenhouse gas emissions. A plant-based vegetarian diet produces a remarkable difference of 30%-90% less carbon footprint than a meat diet. Beef is the worst in terms of carbon footprint.
Going on a plant-based diet is very beneficial to both our health and the planet we live on. You can still make a big difference even if you’re not ready to dive in completely. You can participate in Malta Meat Free Week and perhaps swap out a meaty meal now and then with a plant-based meal. Every little bit counts!
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