Q: What’s the greener burger, soy or grass-fed meat?
A: Someone should really bottle the smell of a burger smouldering on a grill and sell the cologne to barbie enthusiasts. Even for me, a non-meat eater, the aroma always brings a smile. But can I smugly enjoy my veggie burger in the conviction that it’s greener than yours?
Let’s break down our options. First, your conventional burger. A lot of water and energy goes into growing the grain to feed the cow to process the beef. One pound of meat, four quarter-pound patties, involves 6,810 litres of water and roughly 27 pounds of carbon dioxide, according to the Environmental Working Group.
Grass-fed, naturally raised burgers are certainly gentler on the water systems around them, but there’s debate as to whether they have a smaller carbon footprint. A 2010 study of Australian beef surprisingly suggested grass-fed meat had a higher carbon footprint since it takes them longer to reach full size.
But some people, like author Michael Pollan, say that while grass-fed cows may pass more gas over time, emitting more methane, they actually come out ahead because they help sequester carbon emissions in the soil they graze on.
Because of that, some say grass-fed beef is actually carbon-negative. The debate sizzles on.
There’s a whole other meat option on the table, and that’s chicken. Even a conventional chicken burger could be a greener pick. Four chicken quarter-pounders involve only 1,700 litres of water and far fewer greenhouse gases than beef.
Free-range, naturally raised or organic chickens have a slightly higher carbon footprint than cramped battery-caged chickens, but they’re antibiotic-free and humanely raised, so their overall enviro and ethical footprint makes them the only green-lit chicken pick.
By the way, turkey burgers are 36 per cent more carbon intensive than chicken.
Of all the meats, lamb burgers have the highest carbon footprint – according to EWG, 50 per cent higher than beef. These grass-grazing ruminants produce the same amount of methane as cows but provide less edible meat per animal.
Fish burgers are definitely low-carbon but high-risk when it comes to making a sustainable pick. Look for those made of wild Alaskan salmon rather than the farmed kind. Blue Horizon Wild sells some Marine Stewardship Council-approved wild salmon burgers, but they discontinued their MSC tuna burger. Best to stay away from tuna or other fish burgers unless you cross-check the source at Seachoice.org.
So where do soy burgers fit in? There’s no denying the smaller water footprint of soybeans proper compared to all types of meat: only 818 litres for a pound of soybeans. But that doesn’t include the pesticides sprayed, GMO seeds used or heavy processing and air-polluting hexane involved in making soybeans into soy protein isolate. Soy processors are some of the biggest hexane emitters on the continent. That includes the Dupont venture Solae, which supplies soy protein to Yves, Gardenburger and others.
If you like the taste of fake meat, stick to soy burgers made with organic tofu, not processed soy protein (plus, going organic guarantees your soy is GMO-free). Ontario-made SoL Cuisine Almond Grain burgers are made with organic soybeans, almonds and green lentils. In terms of restos, Fresh restaurants offer up tofu/almond/grain/veg burgers, though they’re not organic. Urban Herbavore has a delish vegan burger made with a roasted vegetable patty and tempeh (fermented whole soybeans) “bacon.”
At the top of the green food chain are organic bean and/or nut burgers like organic Sunshine Burgers. Keep in mind that even burgers labelled “bean” or “vegetable” often contain soy protein. Live Food Bar has a great chickpea burger (cooked) and a raw beet burger on a sunflower patty. That’s about as guilt-free as a burger gets.
Got a question?
Send your green queries to ecoholic@nowtoronto.com
