Tofu truths

Last week’s Lancet report and its ‘planetary health diet’ of next to no red meat will have bolstered the egos of vegans who claim that they are doing the Earth a favour. But just how environmentally friendly are many of the alternatives favoured by vegans?

Fancy a bowl of quinoa, a grain stacked with amino acids, magnesium, phosphorous and iron, which in 2013 enjoyed the endorsement of the UN as a ‘superfood’? Not so fast. Quinoa is traditionally grown in the Andes, spanning parts of Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador, where thin soils are replenished with llama dung. Or at least they were. In the first decade of this century, quinoa production increased forty-fold as western consumers took it up with relish. The result is that land occupied by the llamas has been taken up by quinoa production; there is less dung to go around and soils have been reported to be suffering degradation. At least someone is happy: the boom has led to the farmers becoming much wealthier; many have now given up eating quinoa themselves and have adopted a more expensive western diet.

Want to eat an avocado instead? It is a similar story in the Mexican state of Michoacán, where production has increased tenfold in recent years, leading to complaints about deforestation and depletion of rivers as water-hungry avocado trees drain the streams.

Almonds? Forget it. Eighty per cent of the world’s almonds are grown in California, where they have been accused of consuming 8 per cent of the state’s water supply — more than is used by the cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco combined.

Tofu? Like so many vegan favourites, tofu is made from soya — a crop which has been linked to deforestation in the developing world.