Why we need to eat less but better quality meat

Now we have such an abundance of ingredients to choose from, do we really need to eat animals to survive, asks Ollie Hunter

Eating it was a way to celebrate the week and bring everyone together (iStock)

There is so much debate on this subject. But why on earth did humans eat meat in the first place?

We ate it to survive! Surely everyone knows this… it was logical and intentional. We also survived off other animal products like dairy, eggs, manure for soil richness and leather for clothes.

We ate meat because it tastes good, and it tastes good because our bodies know it is a highly dense source of protein and nutrients with some healthy fats.

When you think of omega-3s, it’s usually oily fish that comes to mind, but grass-fed animals also have them, too. We trusted our bodies before there was science.

Eating meat meant we could spend less time farming and eating, and more time evolving and creating civilisation.

Finally, we ate meat as a way of bringing the family or community together to celebrate the week, as we still do with the English Sunday roast or a summer barbecue.

So how has meat changed? Cows went from eating only grass to eating commercially produced grain all year round. Animals like cows, deer, sheep and even pigs have evolved to eat grass, which means their meat contains omega-3s too – the magical nutrients that are great for us and our brains. However, the concentration is found most in grass-fed animals. And this goes for milk and dairy too.

Now we have such an abundance of food, do we really need to eat meat to survive?

Probably not. Do we need to eat animals for nutrients – maybe, but we need oily fish the most. Do we still need to eat meat to evolve? Probably not. Do we need food to bring us together – yes and it’s really good at doing it, but again maybe not meat.

Food evolves, diets change, desires wander, and over hundreds of years we find that we have moved completely away from the reason we ever started doing something. At what point do we ask – have we taken this too far?

The conclusion

I’m afraid it is now a fact that we all need to reduce the amount of meat we are eating, both for our health and the health of the world. Red meat is very much one of the worst contributors to our problems and this should be reduced to almost 1 per cent of our diet.

It’s not necessarily the consumption of meat per se, but the consumption of all the food and water the cow has to have before we eat it – this is the major reason that eating meat regularly is unsustainable.

So, let’s eat less but better quality meat, making sure it has been respected, like any other organism on this planet, and that it is organic and grass-fed where possible.

Our beautiful and symbiotic relationship with animals continues to evolve, hopefully to better their lives.

Veggie meat

There are many dishes that don’t rely on meat for their flavour. So, what plant-based ingredients can we replace the meat with? At the pub we keep an abundance of great vegetables and dry stores to use instead of meat – and our customers love our alternatives like lentil bolognese, bean, walnut and squash burger with spicy mayo, aubergine (eggplant) parmigiana with cheddar and mushroom wellington with chestnuts.

What do we crave most with meat? Fat, protein and salt. If you can imitate these flavours in veggie food, then you can create some amazing meals.

Vegetables are so much more diverse in flavour – especially if you apply techniques like caramelising to extract the most amount of salt, sweetness and flavour.

Chicken leg, blue cheese and nettle pie

Choose an ovenproof saucepan for this dish and you’ll have minimal washing up! Serve with lots of steamed vegetables on the side.

Serves 2-3

For the pastry:

120g plain (all-purpose) flour, plus extra for the work surface
60g cold salted butter, cubed
1-2 tbsp cold water
Pinch of salt
1 egg, beaten, for brushing

For the filling:

Oil, for frying
2 onions, finely chopped
6 garlic cloves, finely chopped
Bunch of fresh parsley, stalks and leaves separated, both finely chopped
Small bunch of fresh thyme, leaves picked and chopped
2 leeks, sliced
75g salted butter
50g plain (all-purpose) flour
250ml milk or stock
Cooked leg meat from 1 chicken
1 tbsp mustard
Salt
Very large handful fresh nettles, leaves picked wearing gloves, plus extra

To garnish (optional):

80g local blue cheese, cubed

Preheat the oven to 200C fan/220C/425F/gas mark 7.

Start by making the pastry, which doesn’t take long at all... put the flour, butter, cold water and a pinch of salt in a large mixing bowl.

Using your fingertips and working quickly, rub the cubed butter into the flour until it becomes the texture of coarse breadcrumbs.

Now bring the dough together into a smooth ball with your hands, kneading a little and adding a dash more cold water if needed.

Lightly flour a work surface and use a rolling pin to roll the pastry out into a circle, roughly the same size as your pan and about 2.5cm thick. Carefully transfer the pastry to a plate, cover with a kitchen towel and leave in the fridge while you make the filling.

Put a few glugs of oil into a large ovenproof saucepan over a medium heat. Add the chopped onions, garlic, parsley stalks and thyme and sauté until soft. Add the sliced leeks and continue cooking for 5 minutes until soft.

Add the butter and let it melt. Add the flour and stir around all the vegetables to let it cook out for 5 minutes. Now slowly add the milk (or stock), little by little, stirring with each addition until it’s combined into a smooth sauce surrounded by vegetables. Add the cooked chicken leg meat, mustard, a pinch of salt, chopped parsley leaves and nettle leaves to the sauce. Add the blue cheese and give the sauce a final stir. Heat through until the cheese is melted and combined and then turn off the heat.

Take the pastry out of the fridge and layer it on top of the sauce, pushing it down slightly around the edges. Brush the pastry with the beaten egg then bake for 35-40 minutes until the pastry is golden. If you want to decorate the pie, top with extra nettles although they will need to be cooked, so 5 minutes before the end of cooking time remove the pie, place the nettles on top and brush with a little more egg wash before baking for the final 5 minutes. Serve.

‘30 Easy Ways to Join the Food Revolution’ by Ollie Hunter, published by Pavilion Books. Recipe image credit to Louise Hagger