Emphasize meatless meals
India has been a predominantly vegetarian market; with focus on the philosophy of Ahimsa or non-violence. There needs to be a further stress on following this philosophy, if we want to progress forward as a healthier and happier nation. There are many creative and simple ways food service professionals are reducing meat purchases. Some are doing meat-free days like Meatless Monday—in which they may make all meals plant based, or emphasize on meatless meals that day, with a higher percentage of plant-based entrees. Others are adding additional plant-based meals to their menus on a daily basis. Some are mixing plant-based proteins or mushrooms with their meat, reducing overall meat usage.
Events
We’ll come to your school or dining operation to host a Forward Food, Veg Out Reach or Meatless Monday event, Culinary Experience training for chefs, or two-hour K-12 Nutrition Workshop. Click here to learn more about our events program.
See More
Recipe development
The HSI culinary team, including a chef, food service director, and dietitians, can create plant-based recipes for your organization. If there is a particular dish that is culturally important or very popular at your location, HSI can create a healthier, plant-based alternative.
HSI also has a catalog of over 100 recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert that can be provided for university or health care food service staff during training. HSI also has a catalog of over 40 K-12 compliant recipes that can be provided to elementary food service staff during training.
If you would like help adjusting your menus for patients as well as customers, The HSI registered dietitians can provide expert advice and sample menus for how to promote healthier, plant-based meals.
Marketing and promotion
HSI can assist your school district with marketing plant-based entrees in your dining centers. Internal marketing generally consists of point of sale materials, posters, customer incentives, presentations to staff, web site content, and drafted letters for staff / customers.
Our HSI food and nutrition coordinators can also help you with public outreach should you wish to have public recognition for your commitment to health and sustainability. This is done through media pitches or press releases and social media concepts / suggestions / graphics.
Environmental impact measurement
We’ve teamed up with a scientific expert who can assess how your decision to add more plant-based foods may positively impact the planet. Changes in food related greenhouse gas emissions will be quantified and reported in a format that you can use in communications with your customers/students, and also as part of any wider greenhouse gas reduction strategy your school or institution may have. This specialty service can be tailored to your needs.
.
Forward Food Events
Want to host a free event for culinary teams, dietitians, nutritionists or other food service professionals to learn about plant-based cooking?
Below is a list of the free trainings we offer and programs we work with– all of which can be custom-tailored to suit your needs. Just shoot us an email if you’re interested in hosting.
About our events
Forward Food events are free to attend and host, and bring together food service professionals, industry leaders and others to meet in a peer-to-peer environment, gaining insights into the latest trends in both implementing and marketing plant-based food programs.
Learn from a range of experts on how to sell the concept to administrators and students, how to pitch it to the media to garner your institution the positive attention it deserves (if you’re so inclined), and how to use social media to drive the message in a way that will resonate with a wide audience.
Enjoy delicious food during our plant-based food cooking demonstration. And network with individuals seasoned in the art of setting and reaching goals to bring healthier menus to their guests.
Meatless Monday
Our Bangladesh team is working hard to promote Meatless Monday in their region. In fact, they have convinced the Grameen Bank, Bangladesh to join the Meatless Monday movement!
This means that the world renowned organization’s cafeteria that feeds around 450 of their employees every day, will not be serving any animal product on Mondays and will publicize the Meatless Monday campaign. The bank has also requested the HIS/Bangladesh team to conduct a training for their kitchen chefs.
Additionally, our team is also trying to work with Sajida Foundation, an organization that does ground breaking work in the field of mental health, for the promotion of plant-based diet.
Veg OutReach programme
Humane Society International/India supports a ‘Meat Reduction Campaign’ and creates avenues to interact with animal welfare organizations, teams, or individuals in India. HSI/India’s meat reduction campaign is aimed at sensitizing people on the concept of eating with a conscious, by reducing in the consumption of meat/dairy products. The program employees various methods; videos, presentations, films, documentaries, street plays, theater, painting/collage competition, creative writing and other to present the true picture of the animal farms and show where the meat comes from.
HSI/India has partnered with more than 10 organizations that are improving the lives of farm animal by promoting reduction in eating meat and focusing on consumption of plant-based diet. Since June 2017, the Veg OutReach programme has reached more than 1.2 lakh people.
The movement is growing
Now, we are witnessing a growing trend towards a more comprehensive shift in favor of healthy, plant-based foods. Many food service operators are setting an objective to reduce overall meat usage by 20 percent within two years. That translates into major health and environmental benefits, including major water savings, reduced greenhouse gas emissions and less water pollution.
Our resources page contains additional ideas, toolkits, recipes, and marketing materials. Or send us an email and we’ll have an expert get back to you quickly and set up a time to chat.