Eating Climatarian with Plant-Based Chicken
Hi there — I’m Sandra, Chief Sustainability Officer at Just Salad. I write about our mission to make everyday health and sustainability possible for our guests.
This week, Just Salad added a new plant-based protein to its menu. It’s called Daring, and it’s a tasty chicken alternative. You’ll find it in our Chipotle Cowboy salad, or you can add it as a topping to any salad or wrap on our menu.
Plus, Daring’s low carbon footprint earns it a spot on our Climatarian menu, which features our lowest-emissions items. (Just click on “Climatarian” and look for the Chipotle Cowboy.)
Why Does Plant-Based Chicken Matter?
Daring is the second plant-based protein to appear on Just Salad’s menu in 14 months. (In 2019, we added Beyond Beef® to our menu and eliminated grass-fed beef, which has the highest median greenhouse gas emissions of any protein-rich food.)
The animal welfare benefits of Daring are obvious. But from a climate-change perspective, why does plant-based chicken matter? After all, chickens aren’t notorious for releasing alarming amounts of methane every time they burp or pass gas, as beef do.
Still, poultry has a higher carbon footprint than plant-based proteins. Here’s how the carbon footprints of beef, chicken, and Daring compare:
Estimated Carbon Footprints
(kg carbon dioxide equivalent/kg of food)
- Beef: 33.1*
- Roasted chicken: 4.1*
- Daring: 0.8**
These numbers tell us a couple of things: By choosing standard chicken over beef, you’re already making a lower-impact choice: Chicken’s carbon footprint is about 8 times lower than beef’s. And by choosing Daring over standard chicken, you’re reducing your dietary carbon footprint several times more.
Want to Give Plant-Based Chicken a Try? Read On for a Special Incentive
If you crave something with the texture and protein content of chicken but want to eat plant-based, then Daring is worth a try. We’d love to hear your feedback — head to orderjustsalad.com, order the Chipotle Cowboy with Daring pieces, and enter code SANDRA5 to receive $5 off your order.*** And let us know what you think by emailing sustainability@justsalad.com.
*Source: Heller MC, Willits-Smith A, Meyer R, Keoleian GA, Rose D (2018) Greenhouse gas emissions and energy use associated with production of individual self-selected U.S. diets. Environ Res Lett 13
**This is a proprietary estimate that reflects emissions from growing and transporting the ingredients in Daring pieces. Like most carbon footprint analyses, it excludes certain parts of the food supply chain due to lack of data. Based on our research, we believe comparing this estimate to chicken’s carbon footprint is sound. To learn more about our methodology, visit justsalad.com/carbonlabel.
***Good for first-time orders on orderjustsalad.com
