Eat less meat and serve more plant-based menus: top chefs back green gastronomy push
- ‘Like opening your fridge on a Sunday night and deciding what you are going to eat’ – chefs answer challenge to make menu with ecologically sound ingredients
- Overconsumption and meat production are depleting the Earth’s resources, and the developed world is eating way more than its share
In a city famed for foie gras and filet mignon, some of the world’s top chefs gathered this week in Paris to showcase the green side of gastronomy, for the planet and our palates.
It might mean swapping the cote de boeuf for cowpeas, the blanquette de veau for buckwheat flour, but a growing number of people are joining climate scientists in calling for drastic measures to sustainably feed our ballooning population.
Food production is the single largest emitter of greenhouse gases and the biggest driver of biodiversity loss, with agriculture accounting for 70 per cent of the world’s fresh water consumption (although this figure drops drastically in industrialised nations).
With Earth set to host 10 billion people by mid-century, experts last month called for swingeing cuts to the amount of meat, fish and dairy consumed by richer nations in order to eliminate malnutrition and live within our means.
What is needed is clear, but experts say a retooling of the global food chain would require a joint commitment from governments, agribusiness, farmers and consumers to switch from meat to a more planet-friendly, plant-based diet.