Climate-friendly Meals Take Flight

Executives from Tianjin Airlines welcomed government officials, journalists and a celebrity chef into the company’s A330 training cabin last week to taste new low-carbon meals.

As part of WildAid’s Shu Shi campaign, the airline will begin offering in-flight meals featuring fruit, vegetables and seafood, but no meat. The selections will first be offered in business class on some international routes starting in June 2018.

Shu Shi is a part of WildAid’s ongoing effort to support the Recommended Dietary Guidelines of the Chinese Nutrition Society, which suggest limiting annual meat consumption to a maximum of 27.4 kg per person, compared to current average of 63 kg in China.

A WildAid survey shows that the Chinese public may be receptive to some dietary shifts. Eighty-eight percent of respondents were aware that meat consumption was unhealthy, while 40% were aware of the associated GHG emissions.

Overall, 83 percent of respondents were willing to eat vegetarian at least one day each week for their health and the planet, with 62 percent willing to eat vegetarian two or more days each week.

Shu Shi, which means vegetable in Chinese and has connotation of comfort and wellbeing, promotes adopting a healthier diet as a fashionable and playful way to help fight climate change. The campaign features superstars Angelababy, Huang Lei and Huang Xuan and aims to empower Chinese consumers to make dietary choices that have smaller climate impacts.