Food24
  • Recipes
    • New recipes
    • Easy weekday meals
    • Videos
    • Budget recipes
    • South African recipes
    • Cooking with lamb
    • Beef recipes
    • Fish and Tips
    • Braai recipes
    • Pork recipes
    • Air fryer recipes
    • Chicken recipes
    • Vegetarian recipes
    • Baking
    • Gluten-free recipes
    • Dairy-free recipes
    • Pasta recipes
    • Cocktails
    • Non-alcoholic drinks
  • Features
    • Food news
    • Recipe round-ups
    • Food24 Taste Tests
    • Kitchen Design and Appliances
    • Drinks
      • Wine
      • Beer
      • Coffee
    • Conscious Cooking
    • In Season
      • Spring
  • Cooking guides
    • Pantry staples
    • Load shedding lifesavers
    • Baking tips and tricks
  • World Cup Weekend Guide
  • More
    • Win
    • Newsletters
No Result
View All Result
Food24
  • Recipes
    • New recipes
    • Easy weekday meals
    • Videos
    • Budget recipes
    • South African recipes
    • Cooking with lamb
    • Beef recipes
    • Fish and Tips
    • Braai recipes
    • Pork recipes
    • Air fryer recipes
    • Chicken recipes
    • Vegetarian recipes
    • Baking
    • Gluten-free recipes
    • Dairy-free recipes
    • Pasta recipes
    • Cocktails
    • Non-alcoholic drinks
  • Features
    • Food news
    • Recipe round-ups
    • Food24 Taste Tests
    • Kitchen Design and Appliances
    • Drinks
      • Wine
      • Beer
      • Coffee
    • Conscious Cooking
    • In Season
      • Spring
  • Cooking guides
    • Pantry staples
    • Load shedding lifesavers
    • Baking tips and tricks
  • World Cup Weekend Guide
  • More
    • Win
    • Newsletters
No Result
View All Result
Food24
No Result
View All Result

Exploring the new lexicon around dietary food choices

Food24

Here’s a breakdown of some climate-motivated dietary affiliations and why people might be drawn to them.

Andrea Fedder by Andrea Fedder
March 27, 2023
in Conscious cooking, Features
0
modern-food-labels-explained
0
SHARES
803
VIEWS
FacebookTwitterPinterestWhatsapp

It was Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin who said, “Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are.”

But with our modern-day dietary monikers becoming as granular as the global food system we find ourselves in, a better perspective might be, tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you care about.

So, in an effort to understand some of the new personal food labels, here’s a breakdown of some climate-motivated dietary affiliations and why people might be aligning to them.

But first a quick guide to the old classics:

Vegan

Vegans don’t eat:

  • Products that rely on animals or their exploitation
  • Red and white meat
  • Fish and shellfish
  • Eggs
  • Honey
  • All dairy products

Vegans do eat:

  • Fruits and vegetables
  • Grains, legumes and nuts
  • Soy alternatives to meat: tempeh, tofu, seitan
  • Dairy alternatives: plant milk, coconut yoghurts etc.

Likely reasons:

Animal sufferingmodern-food-labels-explained

Vegetarian

Vegetarians don’t eat animal meat, i.e. beef, chicken, pork, lamb, game and fish, regardless of how ethically it was killed.

Vegetarians do eat:

  • Everything vegans eat
  • Dairy
  • Eggs
  • Honey
  • Meat alternatives

Likely reasons:

Exclusions are due to animal suffering and environmental impact, but inclusions can be due to health reasons and/or alignment with animal produce if farmed ethically.

Click here to try some vegetarian recipes on Food24

Pescatarian

Pescatarians don’t eat red and white meat, like beef, pork, chicken and lamb.

Pescatarians do eat just like vegetarians with the inclusion of fish.

Likely reasons:

Health – excluding meat limits environmental impact; including fish maintains personal preferred protein needsmodern-food-labels-explained

Flexitarian

What don’t they eat?

Individuals choosing to eat as flexitarians basically eat plant-based foods. So, they typically omit meat and dairy, likely at home and as far as is within their control in social circles.

What do they eat?

They’ll eat majority vegan- or vegetarian-aligned foods, but will on occasion make allowance for dairy or the odd meat dish here and there. Plants are their guide, not their rule.

Likely reasons:

These folk are environmentally motivated, feeling that a majority reduction on animal products serves to lessen their individual impact, but they aren’t aligned with hard and fast omissions, probably due to the social restrictions it brings about or because of hereditary traditional eating patterns that they don’t wish to do away with entirely.

Locavore

What don’t they eat?

Locavores pride themselves on consuming produce made close to home. So this dietary alignment frames their consumerism habits more than their meal preference. A locavore isn’t necessarily vegetarian. However, they won’t buy out-of-season fruits or vegetables or imported products. So they won’t eat kiwi in SA’s winter, as it will have been imported from New Zealand, but they will eat it grown in SA in our November growing season. They’ll also avoid Spanish olives and Norwegian salmon.

What do they eat?

Locavores tend to eat in alignment with a biodynamic food system in their area of residence. So they’ll choose to support local farmers growing fruit and veg in alignment with the seasons as well as dairy and meats produced on smaller farms closer to home.

Likely reasons:

This food preference is about reducing the carbon footprint of your food by limiting how far it travels. Foods grown and eaten closer to home may be more nutrient rich due to longer ripening periods as there is less need for extended cold chain storage to keep them fresher for longer.modern-food-labels-explained

Climatarian

What don’t they eat?

These folks will do their best not to eat foods high in environmental impact. Being a climatarian is less about a diet choice and more about a way of life, using food preferences and purchases to advocate for global system change. They likely won’t support a restaurant that is big on food waste, and won’t shop in stores big on plastic packaging. This lifestyle alignment also tends towards a plant-based diet because of its proven reduction on resources and impact.

What do they eat?

A climatarian chooses to eat in alignment with social and environmental regenerative practices. They’ll buy produce grown close to home, with as low a carbon impact as possible, but will also favour food producers with fair wage policies and community upliftment initiatives.

They eat food that aligns with their vision for a healthier future world. Their diets are also primarily plant based.

Likely reasons:

A climatarian is focused on reducing the carbon footprint of their food, but they will take into consideration more than just how close to home the food was produced. Your food’s footprint is also made up of how many resources it requires in production as well as the packaging thereof. So, your beef can be made on the farm next door to you, but it will still require as much water and land resources as the beef produced up-country.

If a dietary preference doesn’t align with your views, try to find appreciation for the multitude of approaches people are seeking to lessen our individual impact on our (and your) planet.

Reasons can also be multi-faceted. You might be interested to discover dietary nuances don’t even end with the newly added terms above. Some folks identify themselves as ‘intuitive eaters’, and others as ‘dietary non-binary’. It’s all in the name of flexibility, fluidity and mindful eating.

If you’re genuinely stumped at your next dinner party, ask your fellow diner more.

As long as your intention is to learn, not to criticise, we’ll all be better off. An open-minded conversation can tenderise an aged understanding just as well as beer and coke can marinate your aged steak.modern-food-labels-explained

READ: How to eat less meat and what is a climate-friendly diet?

 

Tags: conscious livingFeatureFeatures


Related Posts

coffee beans
Drinks

Changing the lives of Cape Town’s homeless one coffee bean at a time

September 29, 2023
10-grocery-finds
Featured

10 new products we’ve discovered while grocery shopping

September 27, 2023
Peppermint-crisp-cheesecake
Features

We asked, you answered: What is SA’s favourite dessert?

September 20, 2023
Next Post
gin and tonic

This South African gin costs less than R200 and won top honours at the World Gin Awards

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Food24 Team Loves

10-grocery-finds

10 new products we’ve discovered while grocery shopping

September 27, 2023
Peppermint-crisp-cheesecake

We asked, you answered: What is SA’s favourite dessert?

September 20, 2023
best-south-african-chutney-brands

Fruit chutney showdown: 8 store-bought picks put to the test

September 8, 2023
fondue charcuterie

5 ideas for the perfect winter-friendly charcuterie board

August 14, 2023
roasted-potato-and-tomato-soup

Food24 shares our memories from the ‘soup-er women’ in our lives

August 9, 2023

Recent favourites

  • layered cake

    Woolworths launches new cake slice range – and Checkers responds in the best way!

    2 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Peppermint Crisp pudding: Homemade vs store-bought

    29 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • 10 new products we’ve discovered while grocery shopping

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Changing the lives of Cape Town’s homeless one coffee bean at a time

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • We asked, you answered: What is SA’s favourite dessert?

    1 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0

Newsletter

Get weekly access to our best recipes, tips and tricks

Sign Up
Footer

Quick links

  • Home
  • News
  • Videos
  • Win

Collections

  • New Recipes
  • Festive
  • Baking
  • Dessert Recipes
  • Braai Recipes
  • Lunchbox
  • South African Recipes
  • Pasta Recipes

Other links

  • Advertise with Food24
  • Editorial Policy
  • How to Pitch
  • Contact us

Not in the mood to cook?

Visit eatout.co.za to find the perfect restaurant near you.

eatout.co.za

© 2020 Food24.com. All rights reserved.

  • About us
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Policy
  • New Media
IAB
No Result
View All Result
  • Recipes
    • New recipes
    • Easy weekday meals
    • Videos
    • Budget recipes
    • South African recipes
    • Cooking with lamb
    • Beef recipes
    • Fish and Tips
    • Braai recipes
    • Pork recipes
    • Air fryer recipes
    • Chicken recipes
    • Vegetarian recipes
    • Baking
    • Gluten-free recipes
    • Dairy-free recipes
    • Pasta recipes
    • Cocktails
    • Non-alcoholic drinks
  • Features
    • Food news
    • Recipe round-ups
    • Food24 Taste Tests
    • Kitchen Design and Appliances
    • Drinks
      • Wine
      • Beer
      • Coffee
    • Conscious Cooking
    • In Season
      • Spring
  • Cooking guides
    • Pantry staples
    • Load shedding lifesavers
    • Baking tips and tricks
  • World Cup Weekend Guide
  • More
    • Win
    • Newsletters

© 2019 Food24.com. All rights reserved.

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Fill the forms below to register

Subscribe to Newsletter

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
Close
Food24
Recipe Disclaimer

All recipe content is the responsibility of the party from whom such content originated. You agree that you use the content on Food24 at your own risk. Please read our editorial policy.
Close
Food24
Get the latest recipes delivered to your inbox weekly
Promotional Newsletter

Be the first to receive information about competitions and special offers from Food24 and it's partners.

You have successfully been subscribed!
Something went wrong. Please try again.
Make sure you have completed all required fields.
I don't want to see this again