Scientists ranked 20 popular protein sources – and tofu came out on top for people and the planet

From veganfoodandliving.com

Tofu has beaten 19 other popular protein sources in a new scientific scoring system that considers nutrition, affordability and environmental impact

If you’ve ever been asked where vegans get their protein, you might want to point them in the direction of a new paper from a University of Cambridge scientist.

Tofu has been crowned the best all-round source of protein in a new ranking that looked beyond protein content alone to consider how different foods affect both people and the planet.

The new Better Protein Institute (BPI) Score, developed by behavioural scientist Dr Chris Macdonald, compared 20 popular protein-rich foods across measures including nutritional quality, affordability, greenhouse gas emissions, land use and water use, and plant-based foods dominated the leaderboard.

Tofu took the number one spot overall, followed by chia seeds, beans and quinoa. In fact, every food in the top 20% of the ranking was plant-based.

At the other end of the table, the bottom four foods were all animal-derived: mozzarella, lamb, beef and cheddar, with cheddar receiving the lowest overall score.

                                                                                                                                            Photo © Pixel-Shot/Adobe

Why was tofu ranked the best source of protein?

Published in Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, the paper introduces the first version of the BPI Score, designed to offer a more rounded way of assessing protein sources.

Macdonald argues that existing systems, such as nutritional traffic-light labels and carbon-footprint scores, can be useful but only tell part of the story.

A food might appear favourable when judged on a single nutritional measure, for example, while carrying a much larger environmental footprint. The BPI Score therefore brings several measures together under two broad categories: people and planet, and tofu came out on top in both.

Tofu came out on top for the planet, using dramatically less land and producing fewer greenhouse gas emissions than many animal protein sources. Photo © nungning20/Adobe Stock

For the Planet Score, the study compared the greenhouse gas emissions, water pollution, land use and freshwater use associated with producing 100g of protein from each food, with tofu achieving the maximum possible Planet Score of 16 out of 16.

The differences between some plant and animal proteins were striking. Producing 100g of protein from tofu was associated with around 0.61kg of CO2-equivalent emissions, compared with 64.19kg for beef – more than 100 times as much.

The land required showed a similarly dramatic difference; tofu used an estimated 2.16 square metres of land per 100g of protein, compared with 211.38 square metres for beef.

Freshwater use was also relatively low for tofu at 14.23 litres per 100g of protein. Meanwhile, beans used just 0.07 litres, while sunflower seeds used 6.68 litres.

Overall, tofu, chia seeds, beans and quinoa occupied the top 20% of the environmental ranking, while mozzarella, pork, cheddar and beef made up the bottom 20%.

Tofu tops the chart for nutrition and affordability

Environmental impact was only half of the equation in the study as the People Score considered health-related measures, including sodium, saturated fat and cholesterol, as well as whether each food provided all nine essential amino acids.

This last point is particularly notable given the persistent myth that plant proteins are somehow nutritionally “incomplete”. While not every plant food in the ranking was classed as a complete protein on its own, tofu was – providing all nine essential amino acids.

It’s also worth remembering that individual foods don’t need to contain every essential amino acid for a healthy diet. As the paper itself acknowledges, eating a varied selection of plant proteins throughout the day can provide all the amino acids the body needs.

Affordability and supermarket availability were also included in the People Score, with lentils emerging as the cheapest protein source assessed when prices were adjusted per 100g of protein.

Once all six People Score measures were combined, plant foods again occupied every position in the top 20%, with tofu first, followed by beans, lentils and chia seeds.

Plant proteins dominate the ranking

Combining the People and Planet scores gave tofu 36 points, making it the highest-scoring protein of the 20 foods assessed.

The overall ranking was:

Tofu

Chia seeds

Beans

Quinoa

Sunflower seeds

Lentils

Chicken breast

Tuna

Peanuts

Chickpeas

Walnuts

Brazil nuts

Salmon

Eggs

Pork chops

Cod

Beef steak

Lamb chops

Mozzarella

Cheddar

That means plant-based foods claimed six of the top six positions, as well as 10 of the top 12. In comparison, cheddar scored just 13 points overall, compared with tofu’s 36, after performing poorly across both the People and Planet measures.

Animal welfare could widen the gap further

Interestingly, the first version of the BPI Score doesn’t yet factor animal welfare into the final rankings.

Macdonald discusses animal ethics separately in the paper, arguing that including them in future versions of the scoring system could create an even greater divide between plant and animal protein sources.

He highlights what he describes as a “lose-lose trade-off” within animal agriculture: giving farmed animals more space may improve some aspects of their welfare, but doing so can require more agricultural land, potentially placing greater pressure on wildlife and biodiversity.

The paper also points to the sheer scale of animal agriculture, noting that more than 80 billion land animals are killed for meat globally each year.

Macdonald suggests future versions of the BPI Score could also incorporate factors such as antimicrobial resistance and the risk of zoonotic disease associated with animal agriculture.

Is tofu really the world’s ‘best’ protein?

There are some important caveats as this is the first iteration of a newly proposed scoring system rather than a definitive universal ranking of every protein source. The paper itself acknowledges several limitations, and Macdonald says a second version is already in development.

For example, affordability was calculated using prices from a single UK supermarket, meaning the results won’t necessarily reflect food costs elsewhere in the world. The relatively simple points system can also flatten some of the very large differences between foods.

The foods included aren’t exhaustive either as tempeh, seitan and many of the newer plant-based protein products aren’t among the 20 foods assessed.

Nevertheless, the results add to a growing body of evidence showing that choosing plant proteins can dramatically reduce the environmental footprint of our diets – without compromising on protein.

And for tofu fans, it’s another reason to celebrate one of the most versatile foods in the vegan kitchen.

As Macdonald concludes in the paper, our protein choices ultimately extend far beyond what’s on our plates, reflecting “the compassion we are willing to show to animals, to the planet, and to future generations.”

https://www.veganfoodandliving.com/news/tofu-ranked-the-best-protein-source-for-health-and-the-planet/ 

Plant-Based Basics Now Undercut Meat and Dairy at Every Major Dutch Supermarket

From vegconomist.com

A plant-based basket of staple groceries is cheaper per kilogram than a comparable animal-based basket at all nine major Dutch supermarkets surveyed, according to new price research from ProVeg Nederland. Consumers save an average of 18% on a basic basket, with the gap reaching 30% at the cheapest chain.

“The more accessible and affordable plant-based products are, the easier it becomes for consumers to actually make that choice.”

The Utrecht-based food awareness organisation compared the lowest-priced plant-based meat and dairy alternatives against the lowest-priced animal versions in packaging up to one kilogram at Albert Heijn, Aldi, Dirk, Ekoplaza, Hoogvliet, Jumbo, Lidl, Picnic, and Plus. The basic basket covered mince, burgers, butter, milk, yoghurt, and cheese. Even plant-based products in small packs now often carry a lower kilo price than their animal counterparts sold in bulk formats, a reversal ProVeg attributes partly to supermarket private-label pricing and partly to inflation weighing more heavily on animal products.

Private label drives the largest savings

The biggest relative saving on basic groceries was recorded at Plus (30%), followed by Dirk (28%) and Lidl (24%). Ekoplaza showed the narrowest gap at 5%. Burgers, chicken-style pieces, and mince were the most favourably priced against meat, at 31%, 29%, and 21% respectively.

“The idea that plant-based products are expensive holds many people back from eating healthier and more sustainably. By pricing plant-based alternatives slightly lower than the animal version, the sustainable choice also becomes the cheapest choice. We are seeing more and more supermarkets consciously acting on that,” said Martine van Haperen, food industry expert at ProVeg Nederland.

Sales data lines up with this. GFI Europe figures cited in the research show cheaper plant-based private-label products grew revenue 12% in 2025, while pricier branded products fell 12%.

© Albert Heijn

Yoghurt and mayonnaise remain the outliers

Not every category has closed the gap. In 13% of cases the plant-based version costs at least twice as much as the animal one. Plant-based mayonnaise averages four times the price of egg mayonnaise, and the cheapest plant-based yoghurt runs roughly double the cheapest dairy yoghurt.

Van Haperen linked this to volume and format. “If plant-based alternatives are bought little, sales volumes stay low and offering a sharp price becomes harder for supermarkets. Plant-based yoghurts are also barely available in a litre carton. That makes it harder to offer the same low kilo price as with dairy. There are still opportunities for supermarkets to expand the range further.”

Lidl was the only chain to place in the top three on both the basic and extended baskets, which added items such as chicken-style pieces, shawarma, sausage, schnitzel, and mayonnaise. ProVeg pointed to the retailer’s policy of pricing plant-based meat and dairy variants at or below animal equivalents in comparable pack sizes.

The research frames retailer pricing as a lever for the Dutch grocery sector’s target of a 60/40 plant-to-animal protein sales ratio by 2030. Van Haperen noted, “The more accessible and affordable plant-based products are, the easier it becomes for consumers to actually make that choice.”

https://vegconomist.com/market-and-trends/plant-based-basics-now-undercut-meat-and-dairy-at-every-major-dutch-supermarket/ 

A Vegan Lemon Saffron Cake from a New Cookbook by a Chicago-Based Physician and Recipe Developer

From wttw.com

When he published his first cookbook, Plant-Based India, Sheil Shukla was a practicing physician in the Chicago suburbs with an infant who somehow found time to develop vegan South Asian recipes and photograph them for his cookbook and Instagram. Four years later, he’s a practicing physician with a toddler and young twins who still cooks new recipes, photographs them, and shares them, now in another cookbook, Kari, out August 18. 

His approach to food as “an art form” has not changed with the arrival of two more children, Shukla says, but “having kids at that age, it’s tough to really do anything, let alone explore creativity through food.” Kari reflects that reality by showing how Shukla and his wife manage to get home-cooked meals on the table while also working and raising children. They’re still beautiful and ambitious dishes, especially for a working doctor with three children.

Focused on the diverse world of curries that encompasses spice-heavy sauces and stews from around Asia, Kari showcases a mode of cooking familiar to many harried parents and professionals: adding vegetables and proteins to a flavourful sauce. But Kari offers recipes for those sauces instead of having you buy them from the store: makhani or peanut coconut curry in which to serve potatoes or breaded tofu katsu, or top nachos; mango miso masala chutney or creamy five spice sauce with which to dress fried vegetable pakoras or a vegetable-filled rice bowl.

There’s a “more practical lens to my cooking, in that I need to meal-prep in an efficient way and get dinner on the table,” Shukla says. He and his wife now create “flavour bases” like those sauces over the weekend so they’re ready to pull from the fridge or freezer for an easy meal using fresh produce, like that from their CSA, during the week.

As is evident from some of those recipes – katsu, miso, nachos – Kari also reflects Shukla’s embrace of more global flavors and his willingness to mix them together. Whereas Plant-Based India highlighted adaptations of his family’s Gujarati recipes in particular, Kari ranges further afield, from Japan to Thailand and beyond.

It also emphasizes the healthful aspects of its recipes less than Plant-Based India, even while remaining vegan and prioritizing fresh produce and whole grains. “I wanted this book to be me more as a cook, as a parent, as an artist, as opposed to me being just a physician,” he says.

Both the artistry and parenting are evident in Kari’s recipe for lemon saffron cake, which you can try below. Cakes are a celebratory food brought out for family parties and birthdays, and Shukla’s recipe is adaptable to various tastes and occasions; just omit the lemon zest, saffron, and rose water to add in different flavors to the base cake, or switch up the fruit for the topping. The decoration allows for artistry: Shukla tops his cake in the book with not just fresh fruit but also edible flowers and gold leaf.   

“Baking is a great way to extend that artistic expression,” says Shukla. 

Lemon Saffron Cake

Reprinted with permission from Kari by Sheil Shukla, copyright © 2026 by Sheil Shukla. Published by DK, a division of Penguin Random House, LLC.

This is my all-time favourite homemade cake recipe. I use olive oil and almond flour to give it a tender and moist crumb. After tasting this cake (and several avor variations of it), my family has unanimously agreed that I will be the designated cake-baker for all birthdays in the family. The lemon offers a wonderful brightness that complements the floral notes and rich colour of saffron. I’ve used two 8-inch (20 cm) round pans here, which allows me to make a simple layer cake with ease. I top this cake with a not-too-sweet vegan buttercream and fresh fruit. Use this recipe as a starting point and feel free to play around with the flavours. 

If you want enough buttercream to coat the sides of the cake and to decorate the top with a piping bag, simply double the recipe.

Ingredients

For the cake:
275 grams (1 1/4 cups) cane sugar
2 teaspoons lemon zest (from about 2 lemons)
1/2 teaspoon saffron
280 grams (2 1/4 cups) all-purpose flour
50 grams (1/2 cup) almond flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
Salt
360 ml (1 1/2 cups) unsweetened plain soy milk
120 ml (1/2 cup) olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice (from about 1 lemon)
2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste or extract
1 tablespoon rose water

For the vegan buttercream:
150 grams (1 1/4 cups) sifted powdered sugar
113 grams (1/2 cup) salted vegan butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon rose water
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

For decorating:
Fresh fruit (such as diced mango or whole berries)
Edible flowers, optional
Edible gold leaf, optional

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Line two 8-inch (20 cm) round baking pans with parchment paper.

2. Place the cane sugar and lemon zest in a large bowl and rub them between your fingers to combine until evenly distributed and very lemony in fragrance, about 1 minute. Crush the saffron between your fingers and add it to the sugar mixture. Then, sift in the all-purpose flour, almond flour, baking powder, baking soda, and 1/4 teaspoon salt, and whisk to combine.

3. Whisk together the soy milk, oil, lemon juice, vanilla, and rose water in a medium bowl.

4. Slowly add the liquid to the dry mixture and combine with a spatula to form a batter. It’s okay if some small lumps remain; it is more important not to overmix the batter.

5. Distribute the batter between the two lined baking pans. Use a spatula to spread it out evenly.

6. Bake for 20 minutes, rotate the pans, and bake for 10 to 15 minutes more, until an inserted toothpick comes out clean or with dry crumbs.

7. Allow the cakes to cool for about 5 minutes and then invert onto a wire rack. Let cool completely, about 1 hour.

8. Once the cakes are nearly cooled, prepare the buttercream: Whisk together the powdered sugar, vegan butter, rose water, and vanilla extract until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.

9. To assemble the cake, spread about half of the buttercream on top of one cake and top with the second cake. Top with the remaining buttercream and the fruit, and decorate with edible flowers and gold leaf, if using.

10. The cake will keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3 to 5 days. Remove from the refrigerator 1 to 2 hours before serving; the taste and texture are best at room temperature.

https://www.wttw.com/playlist/2026/08/18/lemon-saffron-cake-sheil-shukla-kari 

An agency grows from a vegan travel blog

From travelweekly.com

When Rebecca Gade-Sawicki quit her job in fundraising at the start of the pandemic, she wanted her next career move to closely align with her passion for veganism.

While she initially sought a job with a vegan or environmental company, Covid hiring challenges forced Gade-Sawicki to re-evaluate: Instead, she reflected on travels with her husband, who also follows a plant-based diet. And she thought about the questions she fielded from family and friends when she went abroad, including inquiries on what she ate, whether she had to bring food in her luggage and whether she lost weight during travel.

"The questions were quite funny, so I thought, why don't I start a blog?" she recalled. "This is going to open me up to new opportunities and networking with like-minded people."

That blog, Veggies Abroad, has since amassed a following of vegan travellers. It offers destination guides, restaurant recommendations, hotel suggestions and travel advice to about 30,000 visitors to the site per month. In 2023, it expanded into a full-fledged travel agency, also called Veggies Abroad, that offers custom FIT travel services and small-group tours -- with plant-based cuisine and sustainable travel at the core of its offerings.

Rebecca Gade-Sawicki started the Veggies Abroad blog in 2020; in 2023, she expanded it into a travel agency. Source: Rebecca Gade-Sawicki

A 10-day tour to Greece next April, for example, will include stays in Athens, Kalampaka, Delphi, Central Arcadia, Mycenae and Spetses Island. Clients will visit an agro-farm, take part in an olive oil tasting and participate in a vegan cooking class. All meals included with the tour -- nine breakfasts, four lunches and six dinners -- will be plant-based.

                                                  Veggies Abroad often books group tours, like this one in Morocco, with Intrepid Travel

Veggie specialization

Gade-Sawicki joins the growing ranks of travel advisors who are choosing to specialize and customize their offerings to a particular demographic. While there's no single reliable count of how many vegans exist worldwide, the market they're driving is easier to measure: According to DataHorizzon Research, the global vegan food market was valued at $27.2 billion in 2022 and is projected to reach $63.5 billion by 2032 as consumers turn to plant-based diets for ethical, health and environmental reasons. 

This year, Gade-Sawicki is seeing tremendous interest in her tours. The agency has grown 40% over last year, and she estimates she'll hit $500,000 in sales by year's end. The Veggies Abroad blog remains one of her biggest drivers of client leads; referrals and prospective clients also find her through a Google search.

Although her agency's trips are open to nonvegan clients, prospective Veggies Abroad customers should be aware that meals will be preset as plant-based, as Gade-Sawicki does her own restaurant research, prioritizes vegan and vegetarian restaurants and negotiates menus with partner hotels in advance.

"In my previous career, I had to say yes to a lot of things that I didn't agree with," Gade-Sawicki said. "I didn't want to end up within the travel space selling things I didn't believe in."

Rebecca Gade-Sawicki praises the plant-based food at Palmaia - House of AiA, an all-inclusive wellness resort in Mexico. Photo Credit: Rebecca Gade-Sawicki

She recalled meeting another advisor who told her: "Hey, here's the one good thing about the travel industry: the buck stops with you. If you want to support certain organizations, you can. If you don't want to support others, you don't have to.'"

Gade-Sawicki also often leads the tours herself, arriving at the destination ahead of time to nail down final details with the hotel staff and chef. If the experience with a supplier is a positive one, she's more likely to return (Playa Viva and Palmaia -- The House of AiA, both in Mexico, received high marks from her).

But when catering to specific diets, challenges can arise: "Hotel communication is one of my biggest headaches," she said. "The salesperson can say one thing [to someone else]… and it's always an awful, awful game of telephone.

When you can develop a personal relationship [with a supplier], then people feel more beholden to making sure that they don't screw up."

Vetting who's for real

Gade-Sawicki's portfolio of tours includes itineraries in destinations across the globe. She prefers to work with B Corp-certified organizations, meaning that the supplier is held to standards for social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability. She aims to be equally transparent in her own business; she releases an Impact Report each year, and last year, more than 50% of the suppliers Veggies Abroad worked with were B Corp certified. 

When vetting suppliers, Gade-Sawicki said it's her goal to continue to grow her roster of suppliers that have their own sustainability initiatives, operate with fair labour and purchasing practices and put a premium on community involvement.

"You can tell who is genuine about it and who is just checking a box," she said, adding that she organizes Zoom calls with partners and digs deeper into sustainability practices, charitable endeavours and the like.

" You can determine if someone is greenwashing and someone's not," she said. "Companies that are really interested, and really care, are going to be really excited to tell you about that."

Intrepid Travel, a certified B Corp organization, is a go-to partner for many Veggies Abroad tours, as is Rebecca Adventure Travel, a destination marketing company based in Ecuador, for Central and South American tours.

Although she hasn't entered the cruise space, Gade-Sawicki said she is considering expedition lines such as UnCruise Adventures and National Geographic-Lindblad Expeditions. 

Nearly all of this year's Veggies Abroad tours are sold out, but Gade-Sawicki has her eye on the future, with eight to 10 tours scheduled for 2027.

https://www.travelweekly.com/Travel-News/Travel-Agent-Issues/An-agency-grows-from-a-vegan-travel-blog

Vegan fish lover? Try these alternatives

From favorflav.com

Have you always been a big fan of fish, but does your vegetarian or vegan diet not allow it? Don’t worry, The Vegan Effect carried out the ultimate test to see which fish substitute is best. Spoiler alert: all three are excellent.

We can certainly imagine that if you follow a vegan diet, you start to miss fish after a while. Fortunately, Quirine from The Vegan Effect tried these three fish alternatives. She ate them on a bread roll with cucumber, lettuce and yoghurt-dill sauce.

The Vivera Fish Burger

According to Quirine, this one wins the test. The burger is firm and its texture is remarkably similar to fish. Why eat fish at all when this burger tastes almost exactly the same? You can get one at various supermarkets for €2.79.

SoFish Fish Burger

Just slightly less good than Vivera’s, but this burger comes close. It is a little less firm, but tastes good. The only minor drawback is that its colour and flavour make the product resemble fish fingers more. You can get the burger at Jumbo and Vomar for €2.99.

Albert Heijn Sea Sticks

According to The Vegan Effect, this product is a copy of the original, which does contain fish. The product is comparable to the SoFish burger. This time, the drawback is that the sticks contain no added vitamins or minerals. They are sold in packs of six for €2.69.

https://favorflav.com/en/food/vegan-fish-lover-try-these-alternatives/