Sustainable Food - the Why and the How

Apr 04, 2022

Food is necessary for human survival, yet, over the last few decades, the fast-paced society and world capitalist economies have slowly but surely made us lose our connection with the food we eat.

Producing food requires a huge environmental effort: land that has been deforested, species that have been driven to extinction, indigenous populations that have been made homeless, uprooted soil that has been degraded and a huge amount of water used.

The reality of the modern global food systems is that we produce way more food than we need to, 30% of it ends up in the bin before it even reaches our supermarkets, while millions of people in the world die of starvation.

It is clear that our food systems are broken and a total re-think of those systems needs to happen on a global scale, to create a system that is sustainable at all points of our food journey. From its production, processing, transportation and even disposal at the end of its food cycle.

Environmentally, one of the most devastating effects of food waste, is that when it ends up in landfill, it decomposes without access to oxygen and creates methane, which is a greenhouse gas 23 times more deadly than carbon dioxide.

Investigating the culture of food waste further, in our hospitality industry for example, there is a staggering statistic that 70% of the food waste produced by hotels and restaurants is actually avoidable.

The harsh reality of throwing food in the bin

Disposing of food in the bin is quite literally - the equivalent of putting your hard earned cash in along with it! This is the case more so than any other type of waste.

Why? Well let’s factor in the following elements:

  1. You purchase the fresh produce at a cost;
  2. You store it in your fridges and freezers, using energy that also cost you money;
  3. Then you cook it, using energy and staff wages to add to that cost,
  4. Finally, when the food comes back from your food service areas, or when it is spoiled in your fridges, you pay money for your waste company to take it away.

The 3 types of food waste

Food waste, has an estimated cost of €3 per Kg (https://foodwastecharter.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Food-Waste.pdf) . In the last 4 years I have been working with hospitality business owners and I have seen some businesses dumping over €150,000 in their bins. (50 Tonnes of food waste per year)

I heard a great phrase from a food waste expert on LinkedIn recently “When it comes to food waste, question everything”.

That should be the new mentality around food waste.

  • 60% of food waste is avoidable - plate scrapings, leftovers, gone off fruit and veg and past its use by date.
  • 20 % is potentially avoidable food waste – things like bread crusts, potato skins etc.
  • 20% is unavoidable food waste – items such as banana skins and chicken bones etc.

 

Consider designing a sustainable menu

So what does sustainable food look like? How do we create a sustainable menu? There are a several important elements things that we need to take into consideration, for example:

  • The origin of the produce, not the supplier, but the produce. Where our food comes from is really important and by choosing local food producers, we are reducing air miles and therefore reducing greenhouse gases from transport. There is also an added benefit in supporting your local producers in that it will enhance the economy of your local community. Second of all, how was the product produced? Is it organic? Does the farmer use pesticides?
  • Seasonality is also a big point, does your menu change with the different seasons? If we are trying to include strawberries for example in our winter desserts, this is not the right season for strawberries to grow and so you will probably find strawberries that have not been grown in the most natural way or have travelled thousands of miles to end up in front of your customer.
  • Reduce meat dishes and increase plant based options. Society’s values are changing and while you might not be a vegan, we need to understand just many people are now changing their diets to favour plant based or vegetarian dishes. Ensure your menu includes a variety of these new choices, if you want to go a step further, try and calculate the carbon emissions of your dishes to encourage some customers to choose vegetarian choices.
  • Can you grow your own? Many restaurants and hotels now have kitchen gardens where they can grow herbs & vegetables for their menus. Even those business in city centres can do this, have you ever heard of vertical farming? You can now grow herbs and vegetables in your own reception area if you wish, by purchasing vertical farming shelves. Growing your own and showing your customers the food they are going to eat is an amazing experience for the visitor and also the chef cooking these meals.
  • It is also essential to train and educate your team both behind the kitchen door as well as those on the floor. More and more people want to know where their food is coming from and to have the conversation with your team about the importance of the sustainability choices on your menu and supporting local farmers and producers. 
  • As well as your team, you can also communicate with your customers through your menu. Transparency and information is something they want and you can provide this to them in a fun way e.g. a map of the local suppliers you use and food air miles. 

Here is a useful resource for you to Download

If you want to learn a bit more about creating sustainable menus check out the recording link below from our second FSG Live show - where I chatted to Conor Spacey about food sustainability.  

FSG Live Show with Conor Space - Link Here!

For those that want to get started on greening their business, check out our Green Business programme, which is fully funded in Ireland by the Kildare & Wicklow educational training board. Is your business outside of Ireland? Not to worry, get in touch with me on [email protected]

 

The FSG Team ðŸ’š

 

Don't forget to register for our monthly blog on;  https://www.fiftyshadesgreener.ie/blog-sign-up

 

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