How We Cook Our Food When we think of carbon emissions and food we often only focus on how the food is produced, which is the biggest culprit. On the emissions scale, vegan diets are often lowest, then vegetarian, followed by omnivore where the impact increases drastically. Some other areas we often miss are the roles of transportation, food waste, and cooking methods. With the latter two being areas that the restaurant industry can work on improving. A 2020 study, by food sustainability researcher Angelina Frankowska, found up to 61% of the total emissions linked to some foods are generated by how they're prepared, particularly vegetables. Roasting vegetables in the oven can created up to 52-78% of the total carbon emissions linked to the veggies (from production to distribution to consumption). Sustainable restaurants look for new methods of cooking their food to lower their carbon emissions. Additionally, spring, summer, and fall crops bring a variety of options to eat, many of which can be served uncooked or raw. Bring on the salads! What We Offer on Our Menus Although it's important to look at all areas of carbon emissions linked to food, the two big impact zones that show up in the meat and luxury food (coffee/chocolate) industries are land usage and farming, with animal feed being a third big contributor in the meat industry. These three carbon emitters heavily outweigh the impacts of processing, transport, retail, and packaging in the food supply chain as shown in the graphic below. Offering less meat and dairy with smaller quantities can greatly reduce our carbon emissions. When compared to vegan menu items, omnivore diets produce 5x the amount of carbon emissions. When compared to vegetarian menu items, omnivore diets produce nearly 3x the amount of carbon emissions. Working with local agencies like Known & Grown STL who certify sustainable local and regional farms can further reduce your restaurant's food-related carbon emissions. Additionally, many of our GDA breweries (UCBC, 4 Hands, Ferguson Brewery, Side Project Brewing and Schlafly) are able to offload tons and tons of spent grains to farmers to use as feed, offsetting carbon emissions by reducing food waste and by reusing the grains as feed for local farms. | |
