Welcome to the Climate Kitchen newsletter, a new content universe for climate-curious parents.

Swap Out Processed Meats

By Sophie Egan

Pepperoni pizza at birthday parties. Hot dogs on the kids’ menu. Ham sandwiches in lunchboxes.  Processed meats are everywhere in the kidfoodverse (our word for the mystifying world of children’s eating). Whether you’re figuring out school lunch, going to a restaurant, or just deciding what to make for dinner on a Wednesday night at home, it can seem like cold cuts and other processed meats are at every turn.

What counts as a ‘processed’ meat? Hot dogs, ham, bacon, sausage, salami, corned beef, beef jerky, canned meat, and sauces made with those products, like a pork sausage ragù or bacon salad dressing. Processing means the meat has been treated in order to preserve it over a long period of time or give it flavor—usually through smoking, salting, curing, or fermenting in some way. Why rain on your parade? Because a) processed meats can cause cancer (colorectal cancer to be exact), and b) most processed meats are made of red meat (namely beef and pork), which has the highest environmental footprint of any food group. (By the way, red meat is considered “probably carcinogenic,” with ties to not only colorectal cancer but pancreatic and prostate cancer.) That’s all before we get to how those processed meats are prepared. Throw them on the grill—as one is wont to do with say, a hot dog—and it’s a double whammy: grilled meats pose a cancer risk on their own, due to the trademark black char or grill marks, which are heterocyclic amines (HCAs), a compound created when muscle meat meets high heat.

Here are 3 simple swaps:

●      Pepperoni pizza at a kid’s birthday party ⇒ cheese pizza. Revolutionary! But it has a far better impact on your child’s health and that of the planet. And if you’re the one hosting, include a question in your party RSVP about whether anyone would like nondairy cheese or a vegan option. (Collecting this information ahead vs just guessing can help cut down on food waste.)  

●      Hot dog at a restaurant ⇒ marinara pasta. At least there’s a vegetable in the vicinity, and the relative emissions, land use, water use, and animal welfare impacts are dramatically better. Plus, nothing harmful going into your kid’s body. Even better: skip the kid’s menu altogether! More on this below.

●      Ham and cheese sandwich in the lunch box ⇒ Hummus and pesto sandwich. Or peanut butter and jelly. Or sundried tomato spread and mayo. Or cucumber and cream cheese. True story: I got big points with my 5-year-old twins for making them a chocolate hummus sandwich a few months ago for summer camp. Plus I felt great because chickpeas for lunch is always a win, and the chocolate hummus had almost no sugar or sodium but loads of fiber, protein, and importantly, flavor! And only a teensy tiny environmental footprint. Especially compared to a sandwich with both meat and dairy like ham and cheese. (Recipe: 2 slices of whole-wheat bread + a heaping smear of store-bought chocolate hummus; that’s it!)

Three Things

Curated by Sonalie Figueiras

Welcome to a new section* of Climate Kitchen. Every month, we’re going to share 3 things we love as parents/caregivers raising little humans. It can be something we’ve just discovered, something we use all the time and want to share, or something recommended to us. It can be food-related, but it doesn’t have to be. Whatever it is, it should add to/simplify/enhance your life.

1. Amazing You!: Getting Smart about Your Private Parts: A First Guide to Body Awareness for Pre-Schoolers: This book is ideal for helping kiddos (toddlers to tweens) explore their bodies and how babies are made in an honest, age-appropriate, and body-positive way; it also helps parents find the right way to answer their (many) questions! I got it for my very curious six-year-old and we ended up reading it EVERY NIGHT for a month. I only wish I had heard about it sooner.

2. Of Boys and Men: Why the Modern Male Is Struggling, Why It Matters, and What to Do About It: If you are raising a boy, Richard Reeve’s tome on the social, financial and cultural crisis boys and young men are facing is eye-opening. It’s been covered on every podcast and in every major media outlet, but the book itself is still worth the full read. Too busy with life to read it? Listen to this chat between the author and US Surgeon General Dr Vivek Murththat is especially geared towards parents and caregivers.

3. Yoto Mini: Life for parents looking to minimize screen time is not easy, but the Yoto Mini is a tiny, portable, travel-friendly audio-only player that kids as young as 3 can use by inserting content cards (stories, songs, recordings, sleep music) and listen to with or without their earphones. It has been a total life-changer. In addition to the physical audio cards, there is an app that features loads of free content including kids’ podcasts and a daily mini-episode. Parents and caregivers (including grandparents) can also record their own audio messages/readings for your little ones to listen to. We use it a lot as an aid for learning a new language, and it’s been very helpful. Another thing I wish I had discovered much sooner.

*This section was inspired by similar ones in two of our favorite parenting newsletters: Emily Oster’s Parent Data and Caro Chambers’s What to Cook When You Don’t Feel Like Cooking - make sure to check them both out.

Your Questions — Answered!

As part of the feedback we received since our launch, we got many questions from readers about climate-smart diets, so we now have a monthly reader question section. Send us all your questions here.

“Dear Climate Kitchen, What’s the Most Nutritious, Climate-Friendly Food on the Kid’s Menu?”

Kid’s menus are a social construct. Totally unnecessary and often the worst representation of food you can find, both in terms of human and planetary health, not to mention culinary creativity, technique, and ingredients. Instead, simply order a smaller portion of a plant-forward dish from the regular menu (restaurants will often do a half-cup of tomato soup, say, or a half-caprese sandwich). That way, you still avoid waste, but level up with health, sustainability, and flavor. Sophie’s favorite hack is to give her kids a few choices from the section of vegetable “side dishes.” That’s that little box often in small font somewhere hidden in the corner of the menu, and these tend to be among the most delicious, healthy, and affordable menu items in the whole building! Sauteed mushrooms, roasted broccoli, sweet potato wedges, etc, and kid-friendly flavors and portions to boot.

Sonalie, who is plant-based, always skips the kid’s menu too. She likes to order an appetizer and a main to share with her six-year-old son. Going out to eat is a way to expose him to new tastes and flavors, and he loves eating what she is eating so it makes for an extra fun experience. Plus, 2 adult-sized dishes to share is the perfect portion for the two of them.

If you must order from the kid’s menu, good luck finding a healthy, sustainable option amid the usual burgers, hot dogs, chicken tenders, chicken nuggets, cheesy lasagna, nachos, fries and more fries. The best you can do might be to pick what your kid will actually eat (to at least cut down on waste) and focus on amping up the nutrition by opting out of any sugary beverages or over-the-top desserts it might come with, and asking the restaurant what’s possible on the substitution front: Can you swap carrot sticks or apple slices or even a side salad for the default side of fries or chips? And so on.

Bonus: Holiday Recipes

We’ve got more recipes for this issue because, after all, ‘tis the season of eating and merriment. Sonalie shares her guide on dressing up green salads for your holiday table and some winning Smitten Kitchen dishes.

Deb Perelman (of Smitten Kitchen fame) can always be counted on for moreish, simple dishes, so we always check her repertoire. Both her Warm butternut squash and chickpea salad and her Sweet potato with pepita dressing salad are holiday feast winners.

Foolproof Pantry Holiday Green Salad Guide

A salad is always a good dish to have up your sleeve. All the prep (and there’s barely any) can be done ahead, it’s a good break from proteins and carbs, and it adds lovely green hues to any holiday table. Think of the below as a guide rather than a recipe; I encourage you to make it your own and go with what you have already. You can customize it according to your guests’/family’s/kids’ needs. One pro tip: Pre-make the dressing but don’t mix it into the salad ingredients until just before you serve.

• Choose your favorite leaf (3-4 cups): curly kale, dino kale, baby spinach, romaine — wash and chop (or buy pre-washed if you are busy).

• Choose your favorite nut (½ cup): almonds, cashews, pecans, macadamias, walnuts. Optional: chop into smaller pieces; also optional: toast in a dry pan (though whole dry nuts work fine too).

• Choose your favorite dried fruit (½ cup): raisins, currants, cranberries, blueberries, strawberries; optional: chop into smaller pieces.

• Simple dressing: 3:1:1 ratio of olive oil, a vinegar of your choice, and any mustard you have on hand + salt and pepper to taste + secret swice: add a tablespoon of hot honey or 1 tsp chili powder mixed with maple syrup. Folks will be wowed.