Newsletter
The “Week Without Meat” is a global campaign encouraging individuals to eliminate meat from their diets for seven days. Originating in the Netherlands, this initiative aims to raise awareness about the environmental, health, and ethical implications of meat consumption. By challenging participants to explore plant-based alternatives, the campaign fosters sustainable eating habits and reduces the ecological footprint associated with meat production.
The relevance of this initiative is underscored by the significant impact of meat production on the environment. Livestock farming contributes to 14.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions, surpassing the entire transportation sector. Additionally, meat production demands extensive water and land resources, leading to deforestation and biodiversity loss. Participating in a “Week Without Meat” empowers individuals to make a positive environmental impact while exploring nutritious and diverse dietary options.
Innovarum Joins the “Week Without Meat” Campaign
Innovarum is proud to support the “Week Without Meat” initiative, reflecting our commitment to promoting sustainable and healthy diets. Our team members embraced this challenge, and we’d like to share their experiences:
Ana Díaz: Discovering Plant-Based Culinary Delights
Ana Díaz, an Innovation Consultant at Innovarum, shares her journey of exploring plant-based recipes during the Week Without Meat. To her surprise, the experience left her feeling more energized, inspired in the kitchen, and eager to explore plant-based meals. Throughout the week, she discovered a variety of delicious and satisfying meat-free dishes that made the transition easier than expected.
Through this challenge, Ana realized that plant-based eating is far more enjoyable and accessible than she had imagined. Cutting back on meat turned out to be a fun and rewarding experience, opening up a world of flavourful, wholesome alternatives. Her journey proved that eating less meat is not only possible but also delicious, with endless options available for those willing to explore.
Maya Hernando: A Challenge Harder Than Expected!
Maya Hernando, CO-FOUNDER & CO-CEO of Innovarum, took the challenge. Going a full week without meat proved to be more challenging than expected, especially when it came to feeding the kids and eating out. It wasn’t until the challenge began that the extent of meat’s presence in daily meals became clear. Simple, everyday dishes like chicken soup or a ham sandwich suddenly required creative substitutions.
Dining out added another layer of difficulty, as most menu options included meat, making it hard to stick to the plan. To compensate, the family relied on other animal-based proteins like eggs and dairy, raising the question of whether they were truly embracing the challenge or just finding an easier workaround. Despite the obstacles, the experience was eye-opening. It brought a new awareness to their food choices and encouraged a more thoughtful approach to what they eat as a family.
África Pardavila: Testing the Vegetarian Experience
África Pardavila, Communications & HR Director at Innovarum, talks about how she introduced her family to meatless meals. From an early age, a love for animals and a deep interest in their well-being shaped a passion for animal welfare initiatives. While fully committing to a vegetarian lifestyle was never seriously considered, taking on the Week Without Meat challenge felt like the perfect opportunity to experience what it would be like.
With a diet already rich in fruits and vegetables, the transition seemed manageable at first. However, the real challenge quickly became finding satisfying alternatives for the main protein portion of meals. Legumes became a go-to choice, along with animal-based proteins that were still “allowed,” such as omelets. Surprisingly, the challenge didn’t mean giving up all indulgences—baked goods and cookies remained very much on the menu, which added a fun and unexpected bonus. Overall, the experience turned out to be both eye-opening and enjoyable. It proved that reducing meat consumption doesn’t have to be restrictive or difficult, and it even sparked a new appreciation for plant-based proteins. Moving forward, incorporating more vegetable-based protein sources into everyday meals seems like a natural and exciting next step.
Innovative Plant-Based Foods: Projects Like-A-Pro and Sustainabite
Innovarum actively collaborates on projects aimed at mainstreaming alternative proteins and promoting sustainable diets:
The LIKE-A-PRO project aims to facilitate sustainable and healthy diets by shifting promising alternative proteins and products from niche to mainstream – making them more available, accessible, and acceptable to all population groups. This includes young people, adults, elderly, vulnerable groups, such as people of low socio-economic status, ethnic minorities, and those living in rural locations.
This will be done via development of 16 products with ingredients from 7 protein sources, which are designed to be sustainable, EU-based, with improved taste and texture, supported by an active campaign for alternative proteins co-designed & explored with citizens and community actors across Europe.
Today’s food systems face the challenge of promoting healthier diets while reducing environmental impacts. European diets are imbalanced, with high consumption of animal-based proteins and low dietary fibre. While plant-based foods are gaining popularity, many are highly processed, nutrient-deficient, and resource-inefficient. Meat and dairy production exacerbate environmental issues like greenhouse gas emissions, land use, and pollution.
Sustain-a-bite addresses these challenges by developing nutritious, tasty, and affordable plant-based foods using sustainable, minimal processing in line with the EU Green Deal’s Farm2Fork Strategy. Collaborating across the food value chain—including producers, manufacturers, retailers, researchers, and consumers—Sustain-a-bite fosters innovation, drives adoption, and supports market opportunities. The project promotes inclusive, local food systems to enable healthier lifestyles and a sustainable future.