10/16/24 Vegan Food Guarantees a Food-Secure Future
The theme of the 2024 World Food Day is “Right to Foods for Better Life and a Better Future”
- Animal Friends Croatia present data on how turning to plant-based food is necessary and lifesaving
October 16, World Food Day, is a day for raising global awareness and finding inspiration to act for those suffering from starvation. The theme of the 2024 World Food Day is “Right to Foods for Better Life and a Better Future.” The selected topic stresses the importance for all people to have access to diverse, nutritious, and safe foods.
Animal Friends Croatia wish to emphasise that, in a world faced with growing challenges such as climate change, depletion of natural resources, and the necessity for sustainable living, vegan food is ever more often recognised as the food of the future. A plant-based diet offers sustainable solutions not only with regards to people’s health but also for the preservation of our planet.
Meat and dairy industry use enormous amounts of water, land, and energy, while, at the same time, having some of the highest greenhouse gas emissions. A plant-based diet, on the other hand, has a far smaller environmental footprint, it reduces CO2 emissions, and it contributes to biodiversity.
Animal Friends Croatia note that world hunger is linked to animal farming. While people starve, enormous natural resources are used for farming animals, erasing over 70% of the investment, while food that can be directly used to feed people is irretrievably wasted. Meat production consumes up to ten times more water than plant-based food. The current prevailing diet, based on farming crops for fattening animals for slaughter, is unsustainable and resulting in catastrophic food shortages, as well as an increase in the number of starving and poor people globally.
“People eat less and less in conformity with nature and the old occasional meat consumption has turned into a habit where not a single meal in a day is exclusively plant-based. Demand for animal food products is constantly on the rise and just farms only produce over ninety billion animals every year. The price of one kilo of animal protein is twenty times the price of the same amount of plant-based protein, which is why the meat, dairy, and egg industry are subsidised, further camouflaging the problem. Together with substantial environmental pollution, excluded from this devastating calculation, a future without a change in dietary habits is simply not sustainable,” added Animal Friends Croatia.
Vegan food offers numerous health benefits. Various studies show that a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes can reduce the risk of chronic diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and certain types of cancer. World Health Organization (WHO) recommends minimum five portions, or 400g of fruits and vegetables every day to reduce the risk of serious health problems. Unfortunately, less than ten percent of Croatian population reach this truly minimal recommendation.
By choosing plant-based food, we create an opportunity to rationally use natural resources while securing the right to food for better life and a better future for all people on the planet. Sustainable and healthy foods must be available to all. In the light of this, Animal Friends Croatia call on everyone to learn about the current food production processes on the occasion of the World Food Day, and find out about how they can help by choosing plant-based food and products which do not destroy animals and the environment, which do not contribute to world hunger, while providing individuals and societies with good health.
You can find more information on the link between food and sustainability in the educational brochure “Food and Ecology.” In addition, join the Veggie Challenge, a free online service with a one-month guide for a positive change of diet.
