(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
Mia Frogner is the woman behind the food blog Green Bonanza, and recently released her first cookbook. In it she deals with a varied number of dishes in the form of unpretentious and colorful food.
When Frogner stopped eating meat herself, she was 18 years old and touring the world on her own. A fairly typical transition for many – after all, it is easier to become a vegetarian when you are responsible for everything from food purchases. At that time, just over a decade ago, animal welfare was the usual gateway to vegetarian food. The link between food and the environment was not something that was talked about so much, or was so conscious of.
"But over time, it has become clear on the agenda, and once you begin to gain insight into how today's food production is linked to environmental and climate challenges, distortion of resources, animal welfare and food waste, it is difficult to ignore," says Frogner.
The eighties and the bag food. After more than ten years as a vegetarian, she has learned some tricks, and these she willingly shares with anyone curious about plant food: first in the form of the blog Green Bonanza, and now also in book format. But the book, which has been given the title Green bonanza, is more than a cookbook. This is just as much a book about Frogner's own math story as many will recognize: the memories of a grandmother who had the cooking in her fingers and let the grandson Mia take part in it, in parallel with the contrast to how our eighties children grew up bag food and quick fixes.
The fact that our parent generation was fascinated by the easy-to-use solutions is no wonder. It was new, it was simple, and it freed up time – which suddenly became an increasingly scarce commodity. The upsurge of young people who now want more local produce and will learn to cook from scratch – even grow it themselves – is thus no mystery either. This represents the backlash that always comes, and at the bottom is also an increasing recognition that today's food system and eating patterns are part of the climate change we are now beginning to feel on the body.
What can be difficult, on the other hand, is to see its own role in the big, global picture.
"We probably all have an easy time thinking that it doesn't matter what I do. It's a logic with terrible consequences, but very understandable, ”says Frogner.
Logical flaw. So how can one help change this mindset? Go ahead with a good example? Frogner has in any case learned that she has reached out to many through blogging. The feedback from readers who have been inspired to try more plant-based food has provided motivation and desire to continue. And Frogner comes with tips far beyond the purely recipe-wise – she also addresses other challenges related to living sustainably. What to do with all the plastic, for example? Frogner sees these things in context, both in his own life, on the blog and in the book. And she acknowledges that changing habits is not a fool.
“It's about including more in their diet. Expand it, and add lots of exciting, nutritious and good food. ”
“I think I treat these issues in a way that makes them accessible to those who don't know where to start and that I do so without pointing the index finger. Then I have a greater belief in showing how simple steps can make everyday life easier in a simple way, ”she says. "I don't stand in the kitchen and cook all day long, I have a job and a life off the blog, and I think that shows up in my recipes. These are simple, quick dishes – and while some of the ingredients may be foreign to many, I am keen to show that once you have learned the options, plant-based foods are not more time-consuming to make than 'regular' foods. ”
One can say much of the same when it comes to sustainable living. It often seems more difficult than it is, but once new habits have been established, it is easier to avoid over-consuming, easier to overlook and to opt out of the things that create more greenhouse gas emissions and more waste. As long as the policy is adhering to, it is consumer power that applies.
"I'm an optimist. I almost have to be. But at the same time, I'm afraid things are going slowly, that we've already destroyed too much, ”says Frogner.
"There is a logical flaw in the policy being pursued, where we import soy and cereals into concentrates that could have been used for human consumption. Our meat consumption is oversized and requires enormous resources. We must step in and regulate the artificial need we have created, and we must stop putting man at the center of everything that is going to happen. ”
Outdated argument. Nevertheless, she does not agree that a reduction in the use of animal food is a sacrifice. On the contrary.
“It's about including more in their diet. Expand it, and add lots of exciting, nutritious and good food. One can of course argue that in Norway there are climatic reasons why we have had a meat-rich diet, but I do not agree with the argument that 'it has always been this way, and therefore it must continue to be so'. In 2016 we have access to so much more. Things are changing. ”
Also read the comment about vegetarian food
