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Planting Seeds: Begin offering vegetarian options at community meals
Suggested Practices and Examples for Implementation:
- While it is fine to continue serving meat at community meals, make sure to also include at least one vegetarian option that has substantial protein
- Plant protein is abundant in beans, lentils, nuts, soy, grains, certain seeds, and a variety of vegetables, so get creative with your meals and use these protein sources instead of limiting your options to meat
- Announce to your community that you will have more vegetarian options at meals, and spread the word about why you are doing so and how it positively impacts the environment and makes dining experiences more inclusive
- Learn who is vegetarian or vegan in your faith community and ask them what meals they love or if they have tips and suggestions for incorporating more plant-rich options into meals
- Beginning eating lower on the “carbon food chain” when you do eat meat, by decreasing your beef and pork consumption and eating more chicken, fish, etc.
General Information Related to this Strategy:
- Drawdown: Plant Rich Diets
- Plant-based Protein
- Eating Humanely
- Make It Simple: Congregational Meals
Nurturing Growth: Provide and promote plant-rich or meatless meals regularly
Suggested Practices and Examples for Implementation:
- If you have Wednesday night dinner, consider making at least one Wednesday each month completely meatless
- Encourage members of your faith community to implement Meatless Mondays, and talk about the environmental benefits of decreasing meat consumption, even if only by a little
- Hold events that promote a plant-rich diet and emphasize the positive impacts of doing so
- Have sustainable potlucks and green gatherings that uplift the value of decreasing meat consumption
- Create posters, flyers, or other communication methods that share information about how plant-rich diets are healthier for the people and the planet
General Information Related to this Strategy:
- Curriculum: “Eating Well: For Ourselves, For Our Neighbors, For Our Planet”
- Meatless Mondays
- Podcasts: The Food & Faith Podcast
- Films:
- Drawdown: Plant Rich Diets
- Books about Sustainable Living, Good Eating, Local Churches and Living Gently on the Land
- Tips for Hosting a Sustainable Potluck
- Make It Simple: Congregational Meals
- Plant-based Protein
Deepening Roots: Purchase locally grown and/or organic produce and meat when available
Suggested Practices and Examples for Implementation:
- Support local farmers and shop at farmer’s markets, or source produce from your own or a neighboring community garden
- Take a trip with your faith community to a local farm, meet the farmers, listen to their stories, and begin to build a meaningful relationship
- Look into local food cooperatives in your community
- If you’re area doesn’t have local farmers markers options, host a farmers market with local farmers on your congregational property after worship
- Look for USDA Organic labels on products at grocery stores
- Learn what produce is in season at different times during the year, and have meals that include more seasonal fruits and vegetables to decrease demands on production and transport of produce
- Join a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture), paying shares at a local farm to receive regularly delivered in-season produce in return
General Information Related to this Strategy:
- CSA Toolkit from Interfaith Sustainable Food Collaborative
- Just Eating: Practicing our Faith at the Table
- Books about Sustainable Living, Good Eating, Local Churches and Living Gently on the Land
- Jewish Farmer Network
- Christian Food Movement
- Podcasts: The Food & Faith Podcast
- Films:
- Black Church Food Security Network
- Rural Advancement Foundational International
- Life Around the Table
- Resourceful Communities
Available Resources in Western North Carolina:
- Farmers selling humanely and sustainably raised meat
- North Carolina Farmer’s Market Directory
- Find Local Food
- Root Cause Farm
- Yesod Farm & Kitchen