“It’s becoming more and more clear that the obsession with eating meat and dairy products and eggs is totally destroying the environment.”

This week, renowned anthropologist, animal activist, and Conservationist Jane Goodall released a cookbook to encourage people to go plant-based.

EatMeatless: Good for Animals – the first-ever cookbook released by The Jane Goodall Institute on 23^rd March offers around 80 plant-based recipes including breakfast dishes, soups, salads, mains, and desserts that promise to be both healthy and inspiring.

The book has been published by Simon & Schuster and includes a foreword as well as quotes of wisdom interspersed throughout by the veteran.

It has been ‘crafted especially for curious consumers looking to incorporate healthier dietary practices, those interested in environmental sustainability and animal welfare’.

According to Goodall, the book is a need of the hour. “It’s becoming more and more clear that the obsession with eating meat and dairy products and eggs is totally destroying the environment,” she told AARP.

“ It’s creating methane, it’s wasting water, and it’s bad for our health.”

Activist Goodall

Goodall, who is best known for her 60-year study on the social behavior of wild chimpanzees has continued to advocate for a slew of topics ranging from environmental conservation to human rights.

In a recent webinar on how to prevent future pandemics by examining the human cause and effect, Goodall said: “We have absolutely disrespected the natural world and we have disrespected animals.

“We are part of that world — we are not separate from it.”

She added: “No wonder bacteria and viruses can spillover from an animal to a person — we made it easy for them.”

According to Goodall, transitioning current food systems away from the harm of animal agriculture and toward greater sustainability and plant-based products is one of the most urgent measures to be taken to stop not only future pandemics but also other issues such as the climate crisis.

“The timing and importance of this expansive and beautiful cookbook cannot be understated as we face some of the greatest challenges of our time including the climate crisis, unparalleled habitat loss, millions of animals suffering in factory farms, and the spread of zoonotic disease,” the Goodall Institute states.

“This is an urgent issue, as scientists forecast that pandemics like COVID-19 created by a zoonotic spillover event will be one of many if we do not fundamentally change our current systems including animal agriculture.

“ As a solution, this book provides a proactive and approachable way for individuals to understand their role in embracing plant-based lifestyles through inviting and exciting recipes and reflections.”

 ‘Eat Meat Less’

Alongside the book, Goodall and her organization have launched the #IEatMeatLess campaign to further encourage ‘every individual to think more critically and act more consciously regarding the consumption of meat and animal products for the sake of our planet and the other animals to whom we are inexorably connected’.

The 86-year-old has also cited studies that show how plant-based eating has multiple health benefits and how various studies link meat to human antibiotic resistance and ultimately, to superbugs.

Goodall, who has been a lifelong vegetarian and only recently turned vegan, added that it’s never too late to change your diet and you can start by going meatless one day a week.

“Vegan food used to be tasteless and awful,” she said, but nowadays “really good vegan cooking is some of the best I’ve ever tasted.”

You can sign up for the #EATMEATLESS pledge here.

• Read: Jane Goodall warns ‘humanity is finished’ unless we change our food system post COVID-19

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Mohsina Dodhiya

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