Ahead of next month’s climate change summit in Copenhagen, the city’s chefs are signing up to a program designed to help them reduce their carbon footprints. According to the New York Times, the scheme is one of many that aims to make the Danish capital carbon neutral by 2025.
Restaurants taking part in the scheme are expected to have at least one CO2 friendly meal on the menu. The paper quotes Jesper Moller, chef and owner of Restaurant Julian, as saying that reducing your carbon footprint is intuitive: ‘You avoid beef as well as frozen and processed foods as best you can. You use more fish, and as many local, organic and seasonal fruits and vegetables as possible, to cut down on transport and the use of greenhouses and pesticides.’
As we reported here, Edinburgh is soon to be home to pickledgreen, a new bistro and deli that takes its environmental responsibilities very seriously. It won’t be the last. Local and seasonal sourcing have already become buzz issues in the restaurant world. The question of waste management looks as though it will be the next hot potato.
Before long, you can expect to see a restaurant’s recycling policy and ethical waste disposal credentials listed on the menu beside the names of the sustainable fish supplier and the farm that grows the kitchen’s organic veg.
It is all very admirable and only an idiot would argue against the benefits of reducing the carbon footprint of the restaurant industry.
I’m less convinced that it’s a selling point for the public. Would you refuse to eat in a restaurant that didn’t list a carbon friendly meal? Would you only eat in a restaurant that promised to recycle its grey water?