Week Four already?

Four weeks ago many people took me up on my humble suggestion that they try eating meat-free one day a week and I thank them for it. This week, researchers at Oxford University's Heart Unit have released a new study which suggests that if everybody in the UK reduced their meat consumption to 2-3 servings per week, it would save over 45,000 lives a year. 

I have trouble even processing that number in my mind. That is the equivalent of fifteen 9/11 attacks each year in Great Britain alone. Maybe the word "lives" is throwing me off. What it actually means is 45,000 mothers, fathers, grandmothers, grandfathers and others, all of whom are known and loved by a circle of friends and family who, presumably, mourn their loss quite deeply. What is the number of people affected by those 45,000 premature deaths happening every year, again, in Great Britain alone? When I try to extrapolate that to the rest of the world, I just draw a blank.

I'm not alone. Mr. Alan Fotheringay-Phipps of 52 Harrington Gardens in South Kensington was reading the article in The Independent over a quiet dinner and was put right off his steak and kidney pie. He took the dog for a walk instead. 

So, just in the nick of time maybe, here is this week's recipe, which could be the saviour of many British people, so it is perhaps fitting that we stole it from a British person (Linda McCartney). I have modified the chili somewhat because in our house we substitute tomato sauce as Christina dislikes tomatoes. You may wish to resubstitute diced tomatoes and serve over spinach noodles for a change of pace. Breakfast of the week is miso soup and rice, a typical Japanese morning meal. Vegetable of the week is, you guessed it, the tomato. They are not only anti-oxidant and anti-cancer, but have now been found to protect against skin damage from the sun.

Enjoy the following recipe post and have a good Monday.