Ultimate Blogging Challenge January 2026 - Sustainable Eating

My 17-year-old son and a classmate chose Sustainable Nutrition as the topic for their term paper.

To gather real-world data, they asked five test subjects to give them insight into their refrigerators and eating habits. Armed with this information, they calculated the CO₂ emissions of these people’s menus. They interviewed two families of four (one “traditional,” one vegan/vegetarian), a student on a small budget with a big appetite, a childless working couple, and a retired couple in their 80s.

The latter are incredibly likeable, at least that’s how they come across to me when I read the summary. Probably very typical of the generation that grew up in the post-war period, they consider throwing away leftover food a mortal sin. They cook seasonally, watch their budget, and don’t buy cookies. If they “need” some because guests are coming over, they bake them from scratch.

They admit that their daily meat consumption will likely be an issue in the study, and they are a little embarrassed to confess that they eat a piece of chocolate with their coffee every day. “Bad habit,” they note. Awww. Dear ones... you deserve it. Enjoy it!

Back to the study. Unsurprisingly, red meat, especially beef, tops the list of “bad foods,” due to land use, deforestation, and the potent methane released during digestion. This is followed by certain dairy products (cheese, butter) and some seafood (notably farmed shrimp and prawns). Dark chocolate, palm oil, and coffee also show relatively high impacts, often linked to land clearing or fertilizer use.

I would like to challenge the coffee statement, based on Starbucks’ coffee-growing practices, but of course I can’t speak for all producers.

Based on their findings, Colin and his classmate developed suggestions for improvement, most of which involved replacing environmentally harmful foods with tasty vegan alternatives. One of the participants summed it up more honestly than any chart ever could:

“I understand the arguments. But I live on a tight budget, I don’t have great cooking skills, and I want to enjoy what I eat. So I’ll probably stick with convenience food, at home or on the go.”

That comment stuck with me, and I appreciate his honesty. Sustainability doesn’t fail on spreadsheets, it fails in everyday kitchens, budgets, and skill levels.

I admit I’m more than a little skeptical about many vegan products, but apparently some of the test subjects were pleasantly surprised by “planted chicken.”

I’d like to elaborate on that skepticism. I feel that here in Switzerland, we still have a lot of development ahead of us when it comes to meat alternatives. Many are highly processed and contain ingredients I find questionable. Take one of the more appetiszng options, Green Mountain’s ground beef alternative. Its ingredients list reads: water, textured pea protein (17%), rapeseed oil, pea flour, fermented onion extract, wheat protein (3%), thickening agent (methylcellulose), natural flavouring, pea protein (1.5%), spirit vinegar, colouring (beetroot juice concentrate), wheat flour, and barley malt extract.

For me, that means I’d rather give up beef and eat regular peas than eat something like that. Which we actually do. Since Colin went vegetarian a few years ago, I no longer buy beef. I do occasionally enjoy a nice beef filet when we go out for our wedding anniversary or a birthday. I eat Thai chicken weekly (chicken isn’t as bad), and I still enjoy salmon in my beloved poke bowl.

That said, reading this paper did make me feel challenged to give alternative products another go. I ended up shredding tofu and using it for a chili sin carne. What I usually dislike about tofu is its rubbery texture and bland taste. By grating it into small pieces, seasoning it generously, and almost roasting it in the pan, it actually worked surprisingly well and didn’t detract from the dish. 

The real star of the dinner table, according to everyone, however, was the not-at-all vegan cornbread. I used a mix of olive oil and butter to reduce the dairy content, although, admittedly, there were still eggs involved.

Bottom line: very roughly calculated, the chili sin carne with mixed-fat cornbread caused about half to one-third of the CO₂ emissions of a beef chili with full-butter cornbread. The difference is driven almost entirely by beef (very high CO₂ impact) and butter, while tofu and olive oil are comparatively low-impact.

I felt pretty good about myself. I know that for Kimberly and Jennifer this probably doesn’t qualify as a contribution to Veganuary, but at the very least, it was a tasty vegetarian dinner. And after all, it still contained more protein than a plate of spaghetti with tomato sauce and a bit of Parmesan sprinkled on top.

If you’ve found changes that stuck, big or small, I’d genuinely love to hear about them. Because if there’s one thing this paper made clear, it’s that sustainable eating only works if it also works for people.