Every time I open up Twitter I want to crawl in to a hole. The Donald’s tweets are repulsive. But what can I do? How does one 25 year old guy make a dent in the destruction?

I, like many others, felt that the day Donald shocked the world by winning the US election the world was going to change forever. It opened a can of worms for me, it opened up the dark hole of the internet for me to explore how I was going to make a difference.

What does this have to do with food?

Well, in February of 2017 I broke up with the cheeseburger.

Not only the cheeseburger, but all beef products. That meant no more NY strips, no more philly cheesesteaks, no more burgers, no more roast beef or pastrami, and most difficult… that fatty texas style BBQ brisket.

Here’s why:

I wanted to make a difference in the world, reduce my carbon footprint, and combat some of the most serious changes Donald would make to our country through policy and example.

I wanted to start with what many peopler are calling the #1 threat to humanity, CLIMATE CHANGE!

When we look at climate change, industrialization and greed is to blame. And while coal, oil & gas, and pollution are always on people’s lists for things that need to go, in order to save the world, the fact is COWS are the worlds biggest contributor. 

And thats just the affect on water.

Cows produce methane that is destroying the atmosphere.

Cows eat so much corn feed that we are depleting our farm lands with non-regenerative farming methods to produce these monocultures.

Today there’s a lot of talk about pasture raised, grass-fed beef. That’s great, but if we want to look at the real damage that cows are doing to the environment, then grass-fed cows are actually worse. They require more land, live longer, and produce more methane per cow than a factory farm-raised cow does. There just aren’t as many of them.

The world population is growing, as is the demand for beef. Developing nations such as India and China are now eating more beef than ever and demand continues to increase.

This is a problem for 2 reasons:

1. We are going to be 9.7 billion people by 2050 and there are just not enough resources to feed beef to that many people.
2. The impact of climate change from the increase in production and demand will destroy the planet before we even get to 2050.

If you want the fastest and EASIEST way to reduce your carbon footprint, cut beef from your diet.

I was a hardcore beef eater and thought it would be difficult, but really it’s not.

Here are some ideas for substitutes:

• Portobello mushroom burgers (the mushrooms hold tremendous flavor and are juicier than a med-rare burger – I recommend grilling them)
• Seitan is great in a meat sauce, it falls apart and has the consistency of ground beef.
• Black beans and quinoa make a great burger as well.
• While I’m a proponent of cutting back on all animal proteins, turkey, pork, and chicken are a better alternative than beef from an environmental standpoint.

If you every want any recipe’s or recommendations for how you can replace beef in your favorite meals, shoot me an email bigalsweenies@gmail.com I’ll be happy to share some of my kitchen secrets!