Old-fashioned barbecue

It has become a tradition by now: a barbecue for employees of the IE&IS department at the start of the new academic year. A nice initiative to get to know colleagues a little better in an informal setting, on the sunny terrace of Atlas.

A barbecue for a large group is always an experiment. At first, everyone stands there hungrily, keeping one eye on the barbecue and waiting for a signal. As soon as it is given, a remarkably long line forms in no time.

My strategy is always to wait until everyone has gone through the line. That way, you can avoid long queuing and have plenty of choice. That strategy didn’t work this time because there were so many of us. So we joined the line anyway.

At some point a colleague returned with a full plate and a warning: there aren’t that many vegetarian options. Anyone thinking, “of course, it’s a barbecue!” might want to look into the possibilities of vegetarian barbecuing.

When we finally reached the front of the line, there were just two stuffed bell peppers and half  an ear of corn left on the barbecue for the four of us. The cook apologized: he had only been given an assignment and didn’t known there would be so many vegetarians.

The cook and I shared the same observation: there were a lot of vegetarians here. That prompted me to take a closer look at the numbers. It turns out that last year more than 50 percent of people in the Netherlands called themselves “flexitarians”, people who consciously eat less meat.

Often because of animal welfare or health. Or because of the climate, even before this summer of climate extremes.

By switching from a high-meat diet (which includes an old-fashioned BBQ) to a vegan or vegetarian diet, you can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 86 percent. That really adds up: as a department, we could have saved half a ton or more of CO₂ equivalent emissions with a meat-free festive meal, comparable to driving from Eindhoven to Istanbul.

How about we keep up with the times and, next year, order Indian food for a change?

Pieter Pauw researches climate policy and is an assistant professor in the Technology, Innovation and Society group (IE&IS). The views expressed in this column are his own. 

This column was translated using AI-assisted tools and reviewed by the author and an editor.