Happy New Year! Even if you’re not one to make resolutions, the beginning of a new year is always a great time to take stock and reflect on your upcoming year. When I think about what I want for Revolutionary Chef this year, it’s pretty simple. It’s important to me that Revolutionary Chef is a place of growth – a place where nuance is appreciated and progress is celebrated. There are a lot of complexities to our food systems, our environment, our supply chains, and our personal resources. My focus at Revolutionary Chef is to learn and improve where I can, and then share what I’ve learned so that you can make your own choices based on your own circumstances. Global change comes slowly and progress is really our best measurement of success.
So what can we do this year to progress in our mission to eat better for the planet, reduce our waste, and ensure our food chains are ethical?
Future 50 Foods Report
A great resource was recently released by World Wide Fund for Nature (formerly the World Wildlife Fund) and Knorr foods, titled “Future 50 Foods: 50 Foods for Healthier People and a Healthier Planet.” The report focuses on bringing diversity into our diets, noting that 75 percent of the current global food supply comes from only 12 plant and five animal species.
Diversifying our diets is not only good for our health, it’s essential for the future of our planet. Monocropping, or growing one crop on the land over and over, depletes the soil and makes the land more vulnerable over time. From a food security perspective, monoculture farming can have devastating effects – just think of the Irish Potato Famine.
Within 30 years, the population is expected to grow to 10 billion people. We simply can’t afford to continue eating the same way while expecting different results.
The report outlines 50 foods that have a high nutritional value and low relative environmental impact.
Revolutionary Chef and Future 50 Foods
As soon as I read this report, I started thinking about how I could come up with a Future 50 Foods Recipe for each item on the list, or for a combination of items on the list. I’m so excited to have this resource, so you can expect many of my upcoming recipes to incorporate Future 50 Foods. Of course, I will continue to research and discuss additional topics related to the environmental and societal impacts of our food systems, adding to and building out resources such as Foods to Buy Fair Trade.
Masoor Dal with Red Lentils
Lentils are one of the highlighted food in the Future 50 Foods Report and are a great source of vegan protein. According to the Future 50 Foods report, they also have a carbon footprint that is 43% lower than that of beef. You can often find them in the bulk sections of grocery stores, too, so you can also save on packaging.
There are so many great recipes to create with lentils. While digesting this report, I decided to make a variation of the Nigella Lawson’s recipe for Masoor Dal, which uses red lentils. Red lentils break down in soups and curries to form a thick, hearty stock (similar to split peas). The result in this Future 50 Foods Recipe for Massoor Dal is a warming and perfectly filling dish.
Happy New Year and Enjoy!
Masoor Dal
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp Fair Trade coconut oil
- 1 small onion diced
- 1 medium sweet potato diced
- 3 Tbsp ginger minced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 red chili minced
- 1 cup red lentils rinsed and drained
- 1 Tbsp Fair Trade cumin
- 1 Tbsp Fair Trade coriander
- 1/2 Tbsp Fair Trade turmeric
- 3-4 small tomatoes diced, approximately 15 ounces
- 1 can Fair Trade light coconut milk
- 2 cups water
- 3-4 Tbsp chopped cilantro
Instructions
- Heat coconut oil over medium-low heat. Add onions and sauté until soft and translucent, approximately 10 minutes.
- Add sweet potato and sauté an additional 5 minutes.
- Turn burner to low and stir in ginger, garlic, and red chili. Add lentils and seasonings (cumin, coriander, and turmeric) and stir until well-combined.
- Add tomatoes, coconut milk, and water. Increase heat to bring to a boil, then reduce down to a fast simmer (medium-low on my stove). Cook uncovered for approximate 35 minutes, stirring occasionally. It is ready when the potatoes and lentils are soft. The final texture should be similar to split pea soup. It will thicken slightly as it begins to cool.
- Season with salt to taste. Serve immediately topped with chopped cilantro.
Love this phrase! ”While digesting this
report. . . “ Yummy!
And the recipe looks great too! Will try it this chilly afternoon. Thank you for all the great info, RC! 🙏🏼🌺👍🏼
Thank you, Nancy! I hope you enjoy it!
So so yummy! Threw everything together so quickly and even our 12 year old wanted seconds!
Awesome! Thanks, Kelsey!
Looks delicious, can’t wait to try it! And thank you for sharing the Future 50 Foods report. Interesting and important information for all of us and our planet!
Thank you, Laurie! The Future 50 Foods report is a wonderful resource. It has really inspired me to diversify and start exploring some of the more unusual produce at the market!