Bianca: Meat Free Week. Whether it was my post USA meat purging but reading a magazine one day I flipped past a one page advertisement for this years ‘Meat Free Week’. Never before had I seriously considered a diet completely devoid of meat, chicken and fish for a determined amount of time. Until now….
Meat Free Week launched officially in 2013 after receiving a $15,000 grant through the 2012 Voiceless grant program. My nominated charity for the week long challenge was ‘Voiceless’ the animal protection institute.
Meat Free’s indicated aim is:
“Meat Free Week is a national campaign dedicated to raising awareness of how much meat Australians eat and the impact eating too much has on your health, both individually and as a nation. It also intends to directly spotlight the negative effects over consumption of meat has on the environment and the impact it has on the welfare of animals.”
Growing up in a traditional Italian household, a week without some sort of animal protein is virtually unheard of. Don’t even get me started on the conversation with my Nonno, where I tried to explain my week long quest. Of late my diet has leaned more towards lean meats -Chicken breast, lean red meat and white filleted fish.
On the whole, I found the week much easier than I had anticipated. Having most of my meals planned out in advance certainly helped with the unease and those 5pm “What to cook” nightmares. The Meat Free website has a great recipe collection by some respected Australian chef’s, which unquestionably made life easier. The only downside (that I found anyways) was that vegetarian cooking tended to take far longer – with all the vegetable chopping and different stages of preparation. Just because it was completely meat free didn’t mean it had to be completely flavour free. So I wanted to challenge myself at the same time and cook some things I had never considered before.
Lunches were all leftovers from the previous night’s dinner so that was never a problem. So in theory I only had seven meals to prepare, eating out two nights also lessened the cooking load. I will say, I feel for vegetarians, a yum cha experience left me rather shocked at the lack of options.
-Meat Free Week Meals-
Monday – Zucchini, mushroom and onion Frittata.
Tuesday – A meat free website recipe, ‘Charred Rice Noodles with Chilli Sambal and Asian Greens.
Wednesday – Another meat free website recipe, Simon Bryant’s ‘Chickpea Falafels’. I wont lie, I came close to a meltdown when I tried to fry these and they completely crumbled and fell apart.
Thursday – Dinner at ‘Mother Chu’s Vegetarian Kitchen’. A shared meal comprising of Miso soup, Vegetarian dim sims, Eggplant and crispy soy nuggets with vegetables and a noodle dish.
Friday – Chur Burger’s vegetarian burger. A spiced Chickpea fritter, grated beetroot and honey labne.
Saturday – Lunch at Zilver’s yum cha (Nightmare). Dinner was a recipe from Meat Free’s website. ‘Tofu, Walnut & Asparagus stir-fry’.
Sunday – The last meal of Meat Free Week. A minestrone soup.
With $365 raised, it was without doubt challenging at times. I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t. Surprisingly my first instinct isn’t to rush out and have a piece of steak. MFW has made me question where my ‘Protein’ sources come from, I have a personal interest now to make sure my meat, chicken and fish is ethically sourced when feasible.
And with that……..I am looking forward to a cheeseburger.
A big honking one.
Bonarche hears to you!!
Bianca Squadrito
V.B.A
Oh wow! So brave of you to do Meat Free week! Those dishes you had would have made that week easier to do hahaha. I would totes have like 10 cheeseburgers in 1 day after that.
Surprisingly I have been a little restrained. I had a teeny weenie bit of chicken with a salad last night. Not really craving any meat or anything. Just burgers. I have my priorities.
Great post Bianca! What a delicious range of food that you ate. There’s such a great range of meals and I doubt anyone would miss the meat if they were offered these!
Thanks Lorraine!! I had a bit of fun during Meat Free Week, it inspired me to eat a little healthier definitely puts your head in a different mindset.
And they were all lovely Bianca, would you do it again.!!!!!
Go meatless occasionally…
https://www.meatlessmonday.com/