The Humane Society of the United States and HHS have partnered together to establish a plant-based, sustainable menu program called Sustainabowls, which will be featured as part of HHS’ Global Bowls menu. The initiative brings more humane and sustainable food options into the hundreds of facilities that HHS provides food services to across the United States.
The menu includes exciting plant-based recipes such as:
- Roasted corn and lentil chorizo
- Pineapple fried cauliflower rice
- Indian chutney chickpea
This partnership will raise awareness of the importance of sustainability in our diets while also showcasing how flavorful plant-based dishes can be. Through the hospitals, senior living communities, and education campuses that HHS serves, the program will reach thousands of patients, guests, residents and students across the country.
The chefs, dietitians and specialists at the HSUS work with food service providers to enhance the plant-based options that are being served, with a goal of half the offerings being plant-based industry-wide by 2025. By increasing exposure and education about plant-based food choices, the HSUS helps individuals discover that diets with fewer animal products are healthy for humans, beneficial for animals, and more sustainable for the planet. Reducing meat consumption has been widely recognized as a crucial component of meeting emissions reduction goals to mitigate the impacts of climate change.
If each HHS location serves 10 Sustainabowls a day in place of meat/dairy meals, over the course of one year, the environmental savings would be equivalent to each of the following:
- enough electricity to power 137 homes for a year,
- enough water for one million showers,
- and agricultural land the size of South America.
“Increasing plant-based foods is a win-win-win situation: it helps animals, encourages healthier eating, and takes pressure off our already over-strained planet,” said Karla Dumas, RDN and director of Food Service Innovation at the HSUS. “We’re thrilled to work with HHS in expanding plant-based offerings throughout menus across the country beginning with the Global Bowls plant-based concept. This includes recipes and educational components designed to empower individuals in making healthy, sustainable food choices that also happen to be delicious and satisfying.”
HHS Vice President of Culinary Operations Chef Marta Hernandez commented on the partnership, “The HHS culinary team is excited to roll out the Global Bowls program. The program focuses on international flavors combined with fresh local ingredients. We believe this program will appeal to a large segment of our customers across all sectors. The recipes highlight healthful grains and seasonal vegetables, and the program features sustainable and earth-friendly packaging. These features are important to today’s consumers, and this will be a game-changer for our retail and senior living operations. It is incredibly important to offer our guests the very best quality and innovative food options, and Global Bowls will be the first step into a new and exciting time for HHS.”
