How to Have a Happy and Humane Grilling Season
By Charlotte Isles, Development and Communications Coordinator
For many people, one of the best parts about summer is a cookout with friends. This week with Independence Day, people across the country will be enjoying the time-honored American tradition of grilling. There’s just something about eating outdoors that makes ordinary food taste great, especially with some cold beers, sunshine, and good music.
Unfortunately grilling can be both bad for the environment, animals, and humans. A charcoal grill can cause air pollution and single use plates, cups, utensils and other products produce a ton of waste. Cheap meat most likely comes from animals raised in inhumane conditions on factory farms and can contain carcinogenic chemicals and antibiotics that are harmful to our health.
However, you can still enjoy your cookout sustainably. Read our tips on how to have a happy and humane grilling season.
Check out Your Local Farmers Market
Farmers markets are an excellent way to find humanely sourced meat as you can connect directly with the farmer and learn more about the products you purchase while supporting independent family farms. Consider asking farmers at the markets:
Do your animals have access to well-managed pasture?
What do you feed your animals?
Do you use antibiotics, hormones, or any growth promoters?
Read more about shopping at farmers markets on our website.
Look For Humane Food Labels
If shopping at a farmers market isn’t an option be sure to check out our Humane Food Label Guide. FACT recommends purchasing products that have third-party-verified labels, meaning that a credible outside source audits the farm to ensure it follows the practices implied by the label.
With this in mind, certification can be too time consuming or expensive for a small family farm to pursue, so a farm in your local area may use humane practices but not be certified. You can always reach out to the farm if you have questions. FACT has also compiled a National Directory of Local Food Vendors across the United States to support small family farms that deliver products or have curbside pickup.
Buy Less Meat but Better Meat
FACT believes that eating less meat but healthier meat is best for people, animals and the planet. With summer cookouts traditionally being very meat heavy, consider swapping out some of your hotdogs and burgers for vegetarian options. Check out One Green Planet’s grilled veggie recipes for inspiration. Or try a plant based meat option such as jackfruit, tempeh and seiten or Impossible and Beyond meats.
Make Your Grill More Sustainable
Making a few changes to the way you grill can make it more environmentally friendly. Check out this post from The Spruce Eats for suggestions on reducing your carbon footprint, such as choosing a superior charcoal and avoiding petroleum based lighter fluids and self-lighting charcoal.
Create less waste
Make sure to use reusable or if not recyclable plates, cups, napkins, and silverware and say no to plastic bottles and single use straws. With food waste, compost any fruit and vegetable scraps if you can and be sure to freeze leftovers right away.
Overall, any step you can take can make a difference to the environment, farmers and their animals, and to our health. We hope you have a wonderful July 4th and a happy and humane summer cookout season.