High Altitude, Low Impact - plant based food and travel

Travelling is the time to try new things.

And when you’re on the move, fast food and convenience often comes first. Plant-based alternatives are not easy to find in this context. 

So seeing my favourite, the Huera burger, on a Vueling flight recently not only made me smile but also made me reflect that like-for-like healthier plant-based options should be far more readily available.

Here’s why. 

Healthier than processed meat

With fast food options, plant-based is a no-brainer. On the menu, the Huera burger was sandwiched between two processed pork options - a group 1 carcinogen, due to strong evidence that consumption increases your risk of bowel cancer. 

Choosing a Huera burger, you also get around 24% less calories, over 30% less saturated fat, and 4g of fibre - compared with virtually none in the average beef burger.

Fibre is chronically underconsumed in countries where Western diets dominate. The 2023 Global Burden of Disease Study, attributes approximately 3,800 and 2,700 deaths to a diet low in fibre in the UK and Spain annually.

Better for the Planet

Aviation is a highly polluting way to travel, and I minimise it as much as possible. But with around 30% of global emissions coming from food, like the way we choose to travel, what we eat has a huge effect on the climate. 

Compared with meat, plant-based burgers, like other plant-based, fermentation and fungi-derived protein-rich foods, emit 85–90% less greenhouse gas emissions, and require 93–97% less land. 

Importantly, because plant-based proteins eliminate the need for huge numbers of factory-farmed animals they reduce the risk of zoonotic diseases causing the next pandemic.

They also reduce the risk of antimicrobial resistance reducing the effectiveness of antibiotics (antibiotics are over-used in animal agriculture) to treat serious infections in humans.

Supporting the plant-based industry

It has been a difficult time for the plant-based food sector, with high-profile restaurants and start-ups closing down, and others being acquired by bigger businesses - although green shoots have appeared lately, with some major food businesses reporting a resurgence in sales. 

It’s great to see Vueling Airlines serving the leading Spanish plant protein company, and providing a range of other plant-based products too. 

Many airlines make dubious sustainability claims but when it comes to food they have an option to provide a healthier, tasty and more sustainable option to the standard fare. Let’s hope that’s an idea that really takes off.

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