GO FIGURES

FOOD

The Price of Eating Well

Can all Americans afford to eat their fruits and veggies?
Not according to these numbers. By Julia Westbrook
My Butcher

$2.10
Is a Vegan!
THESE MEATLESS “MEAT” LOVERS COOK
UP VEGAN VERSIONS OF FLAVORFUL
RIBS, CRISPY BACON AND MORE

There’s a reason many of us love a
juicy steak or a beefy burger: it tastes
good. Aubry Walch, who’s eaten meat-
less for nearly 20 years, knows that
meat’s texture and flavor can be hard
The minimum daily cost of eating 41/2 cups of fruit and vegetables according to
a new USDA study. The menu included 1 cup each of apple and orange and 1/2 cup
each of romaine lettuce, carrot, Roma tomato, canned corn and frozen green beans.

7 23
to re-create in a vegan diet. So, she
and her brother Kale came up with
their own solution: The Herbivorous
Butcher, a vegan butcher shop, in
Northeast Minneapolis.
“We made what we were hungry Percent of income spent Percent of income spent on groceries ($2,506)
for,” Aubry says. “Many people want on groceries by the average by households* in the lowest income bracket
to reduce or eliminate their meat American household. (making below $18,362 per year).
consumption, but find that black-bean *Average size of household in this category is 1.7 people.
burgers and lentil sloppy Joes aren’t

25,364,000
always satisfying. But our vegan meats
are deliciously deceiving.” Many of the
products are made with a high-protein
wheat flour that takes on a texture
similar to meat; others are soy-based.
The “steak” is fibrous just like its
animal-meat counterpart, the “bacon”
American households that earn under $18,362 per year. This is about 20 percent of all households.
gets crispy and there’s a tender (but
not mushy) bite to the “ribs.” Their top

$452 73¢
sellers include ­Korean ribs, pastrami,
and Italian sausage—all ­totally meat-
free and tasty.
If you’d like to try for yourself,
order their Vegan Starter Kit or Jerky
Sampler online at theherbivorous
butcher.com. —Julie Kendrick
How much those How much the daily recommendation
who make under of fruits and vegetables needs to cost for
Aubry Walch’s $18,362 spend on people in the lowest income bracket to
smile says it all­— fit them into their produce budget.
produce annually.
these vegan meats
are “deliciously
deceiving.”

“America’s food system has

created a health crisis where
processed junk food is universally
cheap, while fresh fruits and
vegetables are too often either
too expensive or their availability
is scarce. Our food policies need to
recognize that healthy food is a
necessity, not a privilege.”
MIKE ROSS

Tom Colicchio
Food Policy Action Co-Founder

CHEAP & HEALTHY Get a week of super-cheap,

healthy dinner ideas at eatingwell.com/webextra