One year has passed since I started sharing affordable, accessible, meat-free recipes every week. Green Tuesday was meant to inspire planetary lifestyle changes on the individual level. Since the start, I’ve shared 52 recipes that share one thing above all, a climate conscious perspective at heart. In total, 9 soups, 20+ main dishes and 10 desserts among other delicious treats have been posted to inspire meat-free home cooking. From lunch box ideas to the festive season, from elaborate meals to ones that are done in only ten minutes we have come full circle. Let’s take a walk down memory lane and examine what Green Tuesday delivered.
The starting line
Green Tuesday started as a project to motivate my close family to make positive lifestyle changes with the goal to improve our health and cut our environmental impact. I wrote about it in detail in my post ‘Green Tuesdays – Why small changes lead to big impact’. Despite the fact that I am hypercritical about progress and often focus on the ‘room for improvement’, I must admit that major positive changes have taken place.
Fast forward one year, in addition to cutting meat we have together come up with a holistic action plan to better the wellbeing of the whole family. From a single focus on food we have expanded to five pillars of longevity and formulated clear weekly goals about meals, movement, alcohol, community and family.
It’s hard to impossible to say how sharing weekly recipes has helped to get to where we are now. I believe that consistently showing up for one year demonstrated commitment to the ones I love, which in turn helped to cultivate a fertile ground for discussions about other aspects of our lives and how to optimize it. If you told me a year ago that we would be making joint efforts to cut our meat and alcohol consumption, increase our exercise and strengthen our ties with friends and family, I would have jumped through any hoops. I am so hopeful we got to where we are now.
My lessons learnt
… However, there is always room for improvement. – I told you, didn’t I? Haha.- These are my key takeaways from 52 weeks of Green Tuesday.
Partly because it’s difficult to measure progress about lifestyle I have not been setting clear goals about what I wanted to achieve. Going forward, I am going to rethink how I want to impact people outside of the ones that are closest to me. It’s time to branch out and get clear on my next goals. I am talking, working hard or working smart here. I prefer the latter, so I can work towards ambitious dreams that have been in the back of my mind ever since I got started.
We make time for the things that are important to us. Whether I was in the South of France, Brazil, Hungary, Austria, Sweden or Denmark I showed up for Green Tuesday. I felt that this project provided a good chance for me to put my own motivations to the test. Being consistent with it proved to me that my drive beneath is something to keep on working at. So, I will continue putting in the hours to uncover how I can create my own kind of positive impact.
I had a great deal of fun experimenting with food and expanding my own skills in the kitchen and the online space. Green Tuesday pushed me to try new things from week to week. What I enjoyed most was the exploration of our connection to food. It was a pleasure to zoom in on the question why I believed these meals were relevant for Piece of Plate’s mission and formulating a message about it. I learnt to think further than my belly, to connect the tummy with the mind. Green Tuesday helped me get to know myself better and understand the skills I want to further develop, and work areas I feel less passionate about.
In addition to creative and strategic learnings, I greatly appreciated friends taking part in Green Tuesday. Whether it was (re)creating a dish or following my adventures I loved having you all here.
My personal favourites included the Beyond dairy cheesecake, Pink beetroot gnocchi, Kelly’s summer salad, Grandma’s kaiserschmarrn, Meli’s rainbow salad, Homemade hummus and Glorious gazpacho. Not to forget about seemingly odd endeavours such as the recipes for Carrot top pesto or Pulled banana peel burger to minimise food waste.
The finish line?
Green Tuesday celebrates small changes that can lead to big impact. For 52 weeks I attempted to inspire you with my own experiences to tweak your lifestyle in a way that is more in line with planetary values.
Make no mistake about my take on the importance of individual action. It’s not a panacea that can fix the climate crisis. It is, however, a crucial piece of the puzzle. Growing awareness of timely matters and seeking answers to the question what each of us can do is the starting line rather than the finish. Individual and collective action are both necessary to break out of the trappings of a world that still operates based on a linear model.
We are all just trying to find our place in the chaos. Henceforth, I will keep on seeking answers myself and using this platform to document my learnings and hopefully inspire you along the way. Green Tuesday was all about small changes in our food choices. The project has run its course in the format as we know it. It’s time to give way for something new and more impactful. Hint: new concept in progress.
I will remain here to keep on inspiring you. Stay tuned and curious!
Smiles & sunshine,
Réka
