4 Reasons Why You Should Consider Our Vegetarian Menu When Booking A Meeting Room With At Friends House.

Here at Friends House, we have pledged to reduce animal-based products served at Friends House and our impact on the environment. At a time when the impact of our diet on climate change hits the headlines, we believe that switching to vegetarian and vegan diets is the way forward. With this in mind, our partners at Hubbub Catering London come up with a very appetising menu. It is both innovative and creative.

With this week being National Vegetarian Week, identified by the Vegetarian Society, we have identified 4 reasons why you should consider our vegetarian menu when booking a meeting room with us at Friends House. 

Our environment provides us with many benefits such as fresh water to drink, clean air to breathe, and fertile soils to grow nourishing food. However, human activity is causing harm to the planet’s long term future. Action is needed to slow down the threat of irreversible climate change and environmental degradation. Thankfully, implementing a vegetarian diet presents us with the opportunity to reduce our individual impact on the environment and create a livable future for us all. Proving to be more sustainable and kinder to our planet.

Reduces Energy Consumption:

Animal waste is not the only wellspring of hazardous emissions in the meat business. Our food ecosystem depends heavily on energy from fuels used to grow food produce, plan, and transport. Internationally, the consumption of petroleum products is the biggest single wellspring of greenhouse gas emissions, representing 25% of emissions globally.

Meat requires a lot of processing before it is ok for humans to consume, and meat processing relies on a lot of energy consumption. It takes about 63 kilowatt-hours of energy to produce 1 kilogram pound of beef, just under the amount of energy used to run a fridge for 2 months. Plant-based sources of protein, such as beans and nuts, require considerably less processing, therefore much more efficient than meat. Switching to vegetarian meals saves energy consumption and decreases fossil fuel emissions.

Reduces Deforestation:

To meet the global demand for meat it requires a lot of physical land. Roughly about a third of the Earth’s mainland is used for raising animals for food consumption. The meat industry clears through acres of forested land in order to make space to feed cattle as well as grow crops for animal feed. This process, known as deforestation, releases stored carbon from forests into the environment, worsening our climate crisis further.

Animal farming, particularly cow farming, is at fault for an immeasurable amount of deforestation in the Amazon rainforest. Over the last fifteen years, the meat industry destroyed and burned over 111 million acres of forests for animal farming.

In the interim, plant-based meat options don’t need close to as much land to create. It is reported that plant-based meat substitutes utilise up to 99% less land than animal meat. In the event that the entire world moved toward plant-based meals, we could save close to 75% of worldwide farmland. Forest ecosystems would benefit the most if the world went vegetarian. It is estimated that, if we got our protein from plants instead of animals, deforestation could decline by 94%. Which ultimately saves our planet.

Encourages Healthier Diet:

A carefully planned, plant-based diet which supplies all the essential nutrients you need provides numerous health benefits. Research shows that plant-based diets may be a healthier way to eat. A vegetarian diet often contains less saturated fat and more folate, fibre and protective antioxidants. Furthermore, a vegetarian diet is likely to exceed the recommended five-a-day of fruit and vegetables. Eating more plant-based foods that are rich in phytonutrients may help protect against age-related conditions.

You Can Make A Difference to the Planet:

Our ‘Plant the Difference’ menu enables your event at Friends House to make a positive impact on our planet. We have teamed up with The National Forest to plant a tree on your events behalf for every 50 meals ordered for your guest delegates. This is a part of our pledge to offer a carbon positive solution to mitigate the carbon emissions. The ‘Plant the Difference’ menu is 100% plant-based and consists of a range of delicious, freshly made meals.

If you want to make a difference, choose Friends House for your next event!  Contact our events team to find out more: events@quaker.org.uk.