For decades we’ve been encouraged to eat way more protein than we need—and we’re eating more every year. As a result, each American eats on average almost 800 pounds of protein-heavy animal products a year, or as much as 6 ounces of pure protein. And that provides way more protein than we need, perhaps twice or even three times as much.

Cooking has to become hip. It has to become just as much fun, just as prestigious, just as much a part of the culture as watching others cook. This does not seem so far-fetched to me, and, indeed, is happening in neighborhoods and among friends and families all over the country. When it happens among 20 million or 50 million of us, it will become a super-trend; whether this will take ten years or fifty, I don’t know, but I’m quite certain it’s the future.

Cooking is a process, one that takes time and effort. It also requires energy. But much of that is human energy, the kind that doesn’t deplete the environment. Our monoculture-weighted food chain has become extremely efficient at consuming the kind of energy that does. As have we.

Cooking at home doesn’t mean relying exclusively on local ingredients. But it probably means relying more on local ingredients. It certainly means eating less processed junk, and that is where the environmental benefits of cooking become starkly evident.