Letter to the Editor, Guardian Weekend

Cutting down on meat and dairy is a message signalled loud and clear by scientists of DEFRA and the Food Standards Agency (FSA), reinforced by economists and environmentalists, that goes almost unheeded by your guild of food writers.  The possibilities of exercising the 3Rs - Reduction, Refinement, and Replacement - tastefully augmented by a show of Veggie Might and spices are ignored in recipes that blatantly overdo contents of proteins and fats in violations of Grow Food, not Feed agricultural policies of thrift and caution.  Do these chefs read labels and measure the ratings of their recipes in terms of animal-plant ratios of protein and sources of fat (with cautious appraisals of sugar and salt) as have been developed over several years now in our Portfolio of Eating Plans, assessed FSA-style in nutrients and profiling.  Please set your chefs the tasks of producing exemplary menus and recipes fit for starters and main courses for that weekend dinner when the Browns entertain the Benns at number 10.

Dr. Alan Long
VEGA RESEARCH