Bill Granger, Simon Bryant and Belinda Jeffery are among the high profile chefs supporting Australia’s inaugural Meat Free Week, which will take place from March 18 through to 24.
The chefs have provided a number of meat-free recipes for Australians to enjoy throughout the course of the week, a sure fire way to encourage the consumption of such foods as Aussies realise that meat free does not necessarily equate with tasteless.
These include Bill Granger’s baked eggplant, chickpea and green chilli concoction, Belinda Jeffery’s zucchini, fetta and dill pie and Simon Bryant’s rapini with penne.
Simon Bryant, chef and Meat Free Week ambassador is passionate about the campaign, explaining “there is a way to eat meat without contributing to the unnecessary cruelty of factory farming. By purchasing ethically sourced meat, eating less of it or perhaps giving it a miss all together we have the power to make a lot of lives so much better.”
As custodians of this planet it is our job to make these changes happen by asking the right questions and rewarding farmers who follow best practice with fair prices for their work and produce,” he continues.
Media identities Laura Csortan and Deborah Hutton and actor Krew Boylan have also expressed their support for the campaign.
Meat Free Week is the brainchild of friends and former colleagues Lainie Bracher and Melissa Dixon, and it aims to raise awareness about the amount of meat Australians eat and the factory farming practices employed to produce it.
And at a glance, the figures are rather shocking. Australians are said to consume an average of 120kg of meat per capita each year, making us the second largest consumers of meat after the USA.
Bracher and Dixon stress that such large scale consumption would not be possible without factory farming, a practice that is claimed to be responsible for harming over 500 million animals in Australia each year.
Australians are encouraged to get involved in the campaign by signing up for the challenge, opting to avoid meat for the week and raising funds in the process.
“We know it’s a big ask to cut back something you love to eat, but when people know the facts, we’re confident they’ll commit to eating less meat and when they do, make the choice to buy ethically produced meat,” notes Dixon.
All money raised by those who partake in the campaign will go to Voiceless, a not-for-profit think tank that is heavily involved in the animal protection movement.
“Voiceless is pleased to support Meat Free Week and its aims to get people to carefully consider their consumption habits and their impacts on animals, themselves and our planet” said Dana Campbell, CEO, Voiceless.