MNN - Mother Nature Network

Love peanut butter and jelly sandwiches? I do too — almost as much as I love peanut butter and honey sandwiches — or better yet, peanut butter, honey, and banana sandwiches –

 

But back to peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. If you’ve got love and nostalgia for that childhood favorite, put April 2 on your calendar as the National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day. The PB&J Campaign people celebrate this day as one when people are encouraged to ditch their more carbon intensive, conventional meat sandwiches to opt instead for a tasty vegetarian lunch sandwich that’s simple to prepare too!

 

Of course, you’ll want to opt for organic peanut butter and, if at all possible, local — or even homemade! — jam for your low carbon footprint meal. If you live in Philadelphia, you can share lunch with likeminded PB&J fans at the Callowhill Whole Foods Market, where the director of the PB&J Campaign, Bernard Brown, will be celebrating from 11 am to 3 pm. Stop by and say hi — or enjoy your vegetarian sandwich wherever you end up eating lunch.

 

You don’t have to eat PB&Js every day to keep your lunches green. The PB&J Campaign blog has lots of great recipes for vegetarian lunches — including this scrumptious-sounding one for Curry Hummus with Raisins. Just try to lower your meat consumption far below that of the average American’s — and enjoy local, organic meats and animal products when you do indulge.

 

And even if you are vegan, remember that highly-processed vegan “meats” are not necessarily better for the environment than locally produced real meat. Lower-processed veg protein sources like organic peanut butter are much, much greener than their overprocessed, plastic-encased fake meats!

 

I’ll be enjoying an organic peanut butter and farmers’ market jelly sandwich on April 2. You?