That’s a great point and one that I actually hadn’t thought of. As we’ve been asking for this commitment on the basis on helping councils meet their climate targets and lower their catering costs, not actually purchasing less meat would be shooting themselves in the foot! Although I could definitely see some variation of this happening (e.g. purchasing 10% less vs 20% less). I’ll mention it to ProVeg in our meeting this week and will see if they’ve had similar issues in the past or if they’ve considered this. Thanks for flagging it!
Regarding your second point - I definitely agree. I’m actually attending a workshop of teachers who want to see more plant-based meals in school this weekend so the goal is to inspire them to do something similar! The only challenge is that it’s extremely difficult to export something like this to a different country as laws and governance structures are so varied. People from Sweden and Portugal have said they’re interested and want to try it but there really isn’t many ways we can support them from the UK as we have no idea how those countries operate. But as your article shows, it really can be very straightforward if you happen to talk to someone who is already sympathetic.
Thanks for the feedback, that’s much appreciated!
That’s a great point and one that I actually hadn’t thought of. As we’ve been asking for this commitment on the basis on helping councils meet their climate targets and lower their catering costs, not actually purchasing less meat would be shooting themselves in the foot! Although I could definitely see some variation of this happening (e.g. purchasing 10% less vs 20% less). I’ll mention it to ProVeg in our meeting this week and will see if they’ve had similar issues in the past or if they’ve considered this. Thanks for flagging it!
Regarding your second point - I definitely agree. I’m actually attending a workshop of teachers who want to see more plant-based meals in school this weekend so the goal is to inspire them to do something similar! The only challenge is that it’s extremely difficult to export something like this to a different country as laws and governance structures are so varied. People from Sweden and Portugal have said they’re interested and want to try it but there really isn’t many ways we can support them from the UK as we have no idea how those countries operate. But as your article shows, it really can be very straightforward if you happen to talk to someone who is already sympathetic.