MPP Sarah Jama asked to leave Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
MPP Sarah Jama was asked to leave the Legislative Assembly of Ontario by House Speaker Ted Arnott on Thursday for wearing a keffiyeh, a garment that is banned at Queen’s Park.
Eating less meat and dairy is one of the ways we can have a positive impact on the future of the planet, as multiple studies on climate change have demonstrated.
But as anyone who is holding on to an unused gym membership can tell you, getting a new habit to stick isn't that simple. Rather than an all-or-nothing approach, however, the best course of action might be to take it one step (or one meal) at a time.
If you've ever tried Meatless Monday, vegan before 6, or any other not-vegan-all-the-time method in an effort to reduce your meat consumption, you're probably on your way to becoming a planetarian.
Planetarian Life is a website and online community founded by food writer and communications consultant Maggy Keet as a choose-your-own-adventure way of plant-based eating. The flexible strategy she sets forth through recipe "formulas" is intended to help ease people into a more plant-rich diet.
After the birth of her second child in 2019, Keet was motivated to make changes by the thought of what kind of world her children were inheriting. "I was literally awake in the middle of the night having climate anxiety," she said. "I just brought this person into the world -- what does her future look like? What does my son's future look like?"
As a member of a food-focused family, Keet grew up with a firsthand knowledge of recipe development and testing. Her mother, Pam Anderson, is a veteran cookbook author and event planner.
Together, she and Keet have collaborated on projects over the years, such as the blog and book "Three Many Cooks" and the food media conference The Big Potluck.
Keet started the seeds of Planetarian Life based on her experiences doing Meatless Monday, but with fewer restrictions and a larger sense of purpose. "There's vegetarianism and veganism, but these things don't describe my why," she said. "I'm eating this way for the planet."
That's the most basic definition of who a planetarian is, according to Keet: someone who is changing the way they eat and live for the good of the Earth.
"I want it to be a very inclusive definition," she explained. "It's intentionally vague, instead of making it specifically about reducing meat and dairy consumption -- some people aren't going to give up cheese no matter what." As Keet notes in the Planetarian Life mission statement: "There is no right or wrong, no judgment, and no 'good' or 'bad' foods. (This is not a diet!)"
Keet acknowledges that "there's a hurdle to be cleared" to help regular cooks both shift their perspectives and navigate the logistics of getting meals on the table every day. "The challenge to reinvent the way people do mealtime sounds daunting and time-consuming," she said.
With Planetarian Life, Keet decided to take a small-steps approach. Instead of a straightforward recipe site, she worked with Anderson to create the Capsule Kitchen, a mix-and-match collection of versatile recipe formulas, ingredient bases and how-to tutorials to give plant-curious cooks a lot of points of entry.
Instead of cutting out meat entirely or working with unfamiliar ingredients, planetarian eating works around making small replacements in your usual meals on your own schedule and to your own preferred tastes.
This can be as simple as using chickpeas instead of rotisserie chicken to make chickpea "chicken" salad or cooking a big batch of quinoa to keep on hand for quick skillet vegetable bowls throughout the week.
For those who don't know where to begin, Keet's adjustable recipes let cooks build with the basics -- "assembling food instead of cooking big meals," she calls it -- and give flavor-changing options to make people feel like they are not eating the same thing every day of the week.
"We offer people the root formula, a stripped-down version, and variations to inspire them with the idea that if you have any spices, any type of onion, you can make this recipe," she said.
Try these three ways to start eating a more plant-rich diet:
Like compound interest, the incremental tweaks made to familiar meals add up to a bigger lifestyle change over time -- and they are easier to stick with than drastic cuts. Because no foods are banned from the planetarian way of eating, it's up to every individual to take it as far as they want to go.
Whether your new routine becomes bean tacos on Tuesdays, honey in your tea instead of cane sugar, or dairy-free mac and cheese for Friday family dinner, it's your decision.
"So much of the narrative about climate action is about sacrifice and reducing and giving things up," Keet said, but she sees the Planetarian Life strategy as one of addition, not subtraction. "Planetarian Life is a compass, not a map: It orients you in the right direction," Keet said.
MPP Sarah Jama was asked to leave the Legislative Assembly of Ontario by House Speaker Ted Arnott on Thursday for wearing a keffiyeh, a garment that is banned at Queen’s Park.
Two teenagers have been charged with second-degree murder in connection to an alleged homicide near the Halifax Shopping Centre earlier this week.
Bob Cole, a welcome voice for Canadian hockey fans for a half-century, has died at the age of 90. Cole died Wednesday night in St. John's, N.L., surrounded by his family, his daughter, Megan Cole, told the CBC.
Here's what you need to know about why movie mogul Harvey Weinstein's rape conviction was thrown out and what happens next.
When Gen-chan arrived at a zoo in Japan in 2017, no one questioned whether the then-five-year-old hippopotamus was a boy. Seven years later, zoo staff made a surprising discovery: Gen-chan, now 12, was female.
A rural Manitoba school trustee is facing calls to resign over comments he made about Indigenous people and residential schools earlier this week.
The B.C. Humanist Association has threatened legal action against the City of Vancouver for allowing prayers at council, following a similar warning issued earlier this month to a smaller community on Vancouver Island.
A London man has become the first person in Canada to receive a robotic assisted surgery on his spine. Dave Myeh suffered from debilitating, chronic back pain that led to sciatica in his right now and extreme pain in his lower back.
Honda is set to build an electric vehicle battery plant next to its Alliston, Ont., assembly plant, which it is retooling to produce fully electric vehicles, all part of a $15-billion project that is expected to include up to $5 billion in public money.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.