In a paper published in Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, Dr. Chris Macdonald explored the best sources of protein currently available.
To answer the question, Macdonald had to build a new holistic scoring system that combines measures of environmental impact, health, affordability and availability into a single framework.
Applying the scoring system to 20 commonly consumed protein-rich foods, the analysis found a striking pattern: every product in the highest-scoring quintile was plant-based, while every product in the lowest-scoring quintile was animal-based. Tofu ranked first overall, while cheddar cheese ranked last.
The paper argues that many existing food rating systems focus on only one aspect of a product. While useful, these single-dimension labels can obscure important trade-offs and make it difficult to compare foods comprehensively.
TOFU DOMINATION
Link to open access article https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/sustainable-food-systems/articles/10.3389/fsufs.2026.1677796/full
This is anecdotal of course, but that was absolutely my journey.
I went from a meat heavy diet to not eating meat the majority of the days, and still trying to gradually lower it further.
For some people (like me) the barrier to lowering their meat consumption has more to do with having to learn a whole new paradigm of cooking, than being super invested in meat itself.
In case like mine it really helps to do the changes little steps at a time, where you make just one relatively small change at a time, learn how to cook with that change in mind, and then move onto the next relatively small change. It allows me some time to learn to cook with the new ingredients/new allocation of ingredients, and make food I actually want to eat in the long run, so it becomes way easier to keep it up.
I agree, I’m Autistic and had an eating disorder as a teenager. It takes a lot for me to leave my safe foods behind. Not because I don’t sincerely care about ethics and the environment but I also need to be alive and healthy.
And then I met my awesome partner who hates meat and we started cooking and experimenting together. It hasn’t been over night but just one meal at a time I’ve totally changed my eating habits!
[EDITED: my partner hates meat, he doesn’t hate me— as far as I know.]
By the way, same. Just getting familiar with the fact I had options, went a long way.