BY: STEFANIE PHILLIPS
Sharpen your fucking knife, because the bad mouthing, vegan cooking phenomenon that is Thug Kitchen is about to get a lot more important.
The Thug Kitchen website has been gaining notoriety since its launch in the summer of 2012. Since, they have published two cookbooks – Eat Like You Give a Shit and Party Grub – started an Instagram account which now has 136 thousand followers, and changed the way people are thinking about vegan food.
The founders, Matt Holloway and Michelle Davis are dedicated to bringing their fans plant-based recipes using profane language that is understandable to even the most incompetent of chefs.
The best part? They use as few ingredients as possible that won’t empty your wallet. Arming you with “all the information and techniques you need to shop on a budget and eat like you give a fuck,” they said on the Thug Kitchen blog.
Something that more Americans should be doing according to the American government and the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC). Although, they didn’t quite put it as bluntly as the Thug Kitchen did.
In the 2015 Scientific Report the DGAC outlined a clear problem of obesity in American adults — 117 million of them have one or more preventable chronic diseases related to poor dietary decisions.
On average the American diet is low on vegetables, fruit and whole grains but high in sodium, calories, saturated fat, refined grains and added sugars. Despite having easy access to healthier foods most Americans lean towards nutrient poor foods because they are more convenient or cost less.
What may seem like old news now has an interesting twist because for the first time in history the DGAC is recommending a plant-based diet to Americans as a solution to the problem.
“The overall body of evidence examined by the 2015 DGAC identifies that a healthy dietary pattern is higher in vegetables, fruits, whole grains, low- or non-fat dairy, seafood, legumes, and nuts; moderate in alcohol (among adults); lower in red and processed meats; and low in sugar-sweetened foods and drinks and refined grains,” they wrote in the report.
Not only did the report outline the benefits for Americans, it also outlined the benefits for the environment overall — another first.
“Dietary patterns that are higher in plant-based foods, such as vegetables and lower in calories and animal-based foods are associated with more favourable outcomes (lower green house gas emissions and more favourable land, water and energy use).”
Similarly in 2010 the UN released their own report that also recommended a shift to a plant-based diet. In it they showed that more than half of the world’s crops are used to feed animals, not people, a percentage that is expected to increase.
“A substantial reduction of impacts would only be made possible with a substantial worldwide diet change, away from animal products,” they wrote in the report.
Animal products, both meat and dairy, in general require more resources and cause higher emissions than their plant-based alternatives.
As expected the North American Meat Institute is not happy with the committee’s recommendations, accusing them of “generalizing” about animal products and making recommendations based on “personal opinions or social agendas.”
“If our government believes Americans should factor sustainability into their choices, guidance should come from a panel of sustainability experts that understands the complexity of the issue and address all segments: transportation, construction, energy management and all forms of agriculture,” they said in their statement.
But you can leave all of the political stuff on this page and just try it out for yourself.
As the Thug Kitchen would say, eat like you give a fuck.
