Chef’s Roles in Healthier and Sustainable Diets: What Can You Do to Help as A Chef?
Recently I attended the Consumer Goods Forum webinar on “Healthier and Sustainable Diets”. Many individuals within the food industry are interested in helping climate change but are unaware of what they can do to help. I have added a link to the webinar below:
Webinar Healthier and More Sustainable Diets - Future Foods - Session 7 - YouTube
The CGF broke it down into 3 main elements. By choosing one element at a time, one can help put their focus into a specific sector of sustainability. Let me share some of the webinar’s findings below:
Healthier and sustainable diets consist of 3 elements:
Support for balanced and diverse food consumption ensuring appropriate nutrient and calorie intake
Diets that lower environmental pressure and impact
Foods that are accessible, affordable and equitable
According to CGF there are many thoughts on climate change right now, and there are many big feelings associated. Most individuals felt scared, powerless and indifferent toward climate change. The indifference stems from not knowing how to directly make an impact. By supporting brands and making conscious decisions, we can vote with our wallets. Profitable companies of the future will be one’s that make changes to help our climate.
As consumers stand right now, they are showing that they WANT to make a change but might have their focus elsewhere on a different issue regarding sustainability. People are hung up on transportation, improper waste management, oil, and many other things that are in the news daily. While these are of course adding to greenhouse emissions, it is still unclear on why consumers are not making the same connection with food and climate.
More education will need to come on how food is produced, what is being done agriculturally today that is different from a decade ago, and what is the outcome on the climate as it relates to their current diets.
More large brands across the world and the United States are making efforts to lower the impact on biodiversity and soil, methane emissions, and reducing water usage. As the date suggests right now, there has been no reduction in crop yield associated with applying sustainable practices effectively.
It is hard for people to feel like they are making an impact on a small scale. What can we do as Chef’s every day to help? CGF broke it down into 2 categories:
Protection of biodiversity and improved animal welfare
There are dozens of varieties and species of plants, grains and proteins. We as chef’s need to put creativity and flavor into our menu design to use a varied supply of vegetables. We need to avoid monoculture and continue foraging education programs.
Help educate the public on animal welfare, sustainably sourced fish, and free-range eggs
We need to advocate to the public to end pesticide usage (neonicotinoids that are toxic in particular) This pesticide is also particularly harmful to bees
2. Investment in the livelihoods of farmers
Get to know your ingredients. Know who grows, harvests, sources and packages them and how they get to you. Inspect the journey of your products. Read up on aquaculture and know what is local to you!
Talk to your cooks and get them involved/interested.
Slowly but surely, we are seeing the shift to a healthier food system and a more informed public. We continue to hear trigger words regarding climate change and get scared as a first response. It is alarming, but the devil is in the details. We cannot focus on changing an entire ocean or river, but we can focus on small communities along a coastline and make small improvements. Incremental system improvement and education will continue to go a long way. Take the time to speak to your cooks and individuals you are training to spread the word.
Have a great weekend!
Stephen
