Episode 1:
Ethical Eating
A movement is rapidly gaining momentum around the world as people are beginning to make more conscious choices about what they consume. Veganism and vegetarianism are among the most popular of lifestyle changes where individuals are choosing plant-based diets. While movements like these have been around for decades, in recent years more and more people of all ages are turning towards eating ethically.
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The reasoning for changing lifestyles varies depending on the person. Some guests interviewed on Secret Ingredient say that it was to protest animal cruelty or/and to eliminate their meat consumption. Others said it was due to allergies, environmental concerns, etc..Regardless, choosing to eat ethically opens up an interesting conversation about how lifestyle changes impact our relationships with food, friends, family and society.
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Julia Gogoliva (left) and her partner are the owners of "Full Circle Foods"
For some like Heather Pinksy, choosing to eat ethically was important to her for years. Over forty years ago she made the decision to go vegetarian, because she didn't like eating meat knowing it came from animals. "Forty years ago it was very tough, there was not a lot of options salad...but there weren't things like tam pay. It was really tough but I did it anyway," she said.
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Now Heather is helping inspiring people by teaching vegan cooking classes at Covent Market Gardens in London. Once a month she teaches a class new recipes to show that it's not as difficult as people think to cook vegan. "Doesn't matter where it comes from," she says, "I always say if it's good food, it's good food."
In comparison, Sydney has recently made the leap from vegetarianism to veganism. She says that eating out can be tricky and that sometimes she does need to compromise. When it comes to situations with friends and family, she says it can be hard to handle. "It's hard sometimes when I go home, but in other social situations everyone understands and tries to accommodate so that's really great," she said.
Julia Gogoliva and her partner know this well. As a co-owner of 'Full Circle Foods' in Kitchener she's passionate about eliminating unnecessary food packaging waste. At her business, customers can purchase their groceries in bulk by using their own containers that they bring to the store. "We're really interested in environmental issues, so we're trying to think about the ways that food systems interact with the environment," she said.
She noticed an increase in zero-waste customers, people who are working on eliminating the entire amount of single-use waste they produce. "People are thinking about the waste that comes from the food that they eat," she said.
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In a growing social movement, people are becoming more conscious not just about food waste, but where and how their food is produced.
Sydney has recently made the choice to go vegan
The surge in lifestyle changes isn't completely new to Western University dietitian Samantha Gianotti. She says that with the new Canadian food guide advising to pursue a more plant-based diets, more and more people are seeking out alternatives to foods such as animal by-products. But that doesn't mean it's not okay to indulge every once in awhile.
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Nutrition coach Tom Grabowski says that it's important to simply be mindful about what you eat. "Nourishment supersedes nutrition, so you eating something sweet may give you that relief you need...that food is comfort and it's a survival mechanism and it's okay," he said. Grabowski says it takes a long time for unhealthy food to really affect our bodies in a negative way, so everything is good in moderation.
(via Health Canada)
Now, cities like London are seeing a surge in restaurants, businesses and establishments that cater specifically towards plant-based options...and their popularity is so evident that even fast food franchises are jumping on board.
So, we decided to put our own taste buds to the test. We went out around London to find four burgers from three fast food restaurants: two vegan burgers and, two traditional burgers.
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The plan was simple: can we really tell the difference plant-based protein from traditional meat? Lexi was going to be our test subject to find out! The plan was for her to try two burgers while blindfolded. After sampling one meat burger and one plant-based burger (both from A&W), she would need to guess which one was which. Then, she'd repeat the test- this time with one meat burger from MacDonald's, and a beyond meat patty from Tim Hortons. How did she do? Find out!!
