Obama Celebrates His 60th Birthday With a Vegan Menu
Curated by American musician, Questlove, the birthday menu featured Impossible Beef, Just Egg and Perfect Day cheese.
This weekend, Barack Obama celebrated his 60th birthday with a plant-based dinner spread at Martha’s Vineyard, according to a report.
Parties close to the celebration dinner leaked a menu to Bloomberg, which revealed that the former President of the United States was set to offer his guests at least one fully plant-based menu featuring leading brands in the alt-meat world.
The celebration’s plant-based menu was curated by American musician Questlove, friend of the Obama family and vegan food advocate. He also has his own brand of Impossible “burger” and has invested in vegan Chilean food tech brand NotCo and California-based Impossible Foods.
The menu is said to have included Spam Musubi made with plant-based alternatives to beef and pork from Impossible Foods, Eat Just’s vegan eggs, and Questlove’s signature Cheeseteak Eggrolls, made with Impossible Foods’ vegan beef and an unreleased, vegan cheese sauce created by Perfect Day.
Among the guests attending the celebrity-studded garden party were John Legend, Chrissy Teigen, George Clooney, Don Cheadle, Beyonce, Jay-Z and Oprah - the latter two who are high profile investors in the leading plant-based milk brand, Oatly.
Obama is an advocate for cutting down on meat consumption for the environment. During the Global Food Innovation Summit in Milan, his first international appearance after leaving office, Obama highlighted the link between animal agriculture and climate change. From loss of biodiversity to placing strain on land and water resources, meat consumption is a major contributor to environmental problems. Last year, the UN reported that global meat consumption must fall to help fight climate change.
“I think people naturally understand that big smokestacks have pollution in them and they understand air pollution, so they can easily make the connection between energy production and the idea of greenhouse gases,” Obama said.
“People aren’t as familiar with the impact of cows and methane unless you’re a farmer.”
He added: “That doesn’t mean that we can’t teach you and me to have a smaller steak, for our own health. It doesn’t mean we can’t make progress in educating the advanced world about the need to reduce, just for dietary reasons, the amount of meat that we consume at any given meal,” he said.
Americans are increasingly turning to animal-free foods for the sake of their health, the animals, and the planet. Bolstered in part by celebrity-studded events such as Obama’s birthday celebration, veganism is becoming more and more mainstream. Just this week, it was announced that the 2021 Met Gala will serve guests a 100% plant-based menu this year to highlight how food is changing in America towards more sustainable, meatless choices.
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The 70 acres of farmland will now grow and harvest key Impossible ingredients like soybeans and sunflowers, while also providing a safe haven for rescued cattle to live freely.