Food for thought: Sustainable Warwick launches vegetarian dining club

WARWICK — Sustainable Warwick has launched Vegetarians & Friends, a new club open to anyone on the vegetarian spectrum.
If you are moseying toward meatless Mondays or a vociferous vegan or anywhere in between, you are welcome to join Vegetarians & Friends. The main activity of the club is holding vegetarian dinners in the homes of its members.
"Sometimes people have ideals that get them started as a vegetarian or vegan, then social challenges and dietary mistakes later get in their way," said Michael Helme, a member of the Sustainable Warwick Steering Committee. "In our new club, I like to think we are helping each other pursue our dietary goals in positive ways.
"Though members have different motivations for being flexitarians, vegetarians or vegans," Helme added, "the common theme in Vegetarians & Friends is encouraging everyone to eat well in ways that tread lightly on the earth."
Steep climate price tagAccording to drawdown.org, adopting a plant-rich diet is one of the most effective ways to have a positive effect on the environment: “Shifting to a diet rich in plants is a demand-side solution to global warming that runs counter to the meat-centric Western diet on the rise globally. That diet comes with a steep climate price tag: one-fifth of global emissions. According to a 2016 study, business-as-usual emissions could be reduced by as much as 70 percent through adopting a vegan diet and 63 percent for a vegetarian diet, which includes cheese, milk and eggs.”
While drawdown.org ranks plant-rich diets very high among its solutions for climate change, it also includes a number of global warming solutions that involve raising animals.
Five stars"I'm not a full-time vegetarian any more,"said Kathleen Shannon, one of the founding members of the club, "but we have had lots of great food at the dinners, and we definitely earn five stars in the food for thought category."
Sustainable Warwick promotes sustainable living in a variety of ways and, to be clear, not all members of Sustainable Warwick are on the vegetarian spectrum. (Also, you do not need to be a member of Sustainable Warwick to join Vegetarians & Friends.)
"We started planning this while I was away at college," said Emma Glasse, acting secretary for V&F. "It has been a pleasure watching our group introduce people who otherwise would not have crossed paths. Now we are coalescing into a club where we share ideas and recipes and just communicate."
• To join or learn more about the club, send an email to SWVandF@gmail.com.