More and more restaurants are implementing environmentally friendly practices. It’s not always clear, though, which restaurants are doing this.
The good news is you can still make choices that align with your values at almost any restaurant—all it takes is a little understanding of how foods can impact the planet and a willingness to ask questions. Here’s how to order the most eco-friendly items from any restaurant menu.
Look for a restaurant with credentials
One easy way to make eco-friendly choices is to pick a restaurant with a third-party seal of approval for eco-friendliness. B Corp, for example, vets all its partner restaurants. You could also look for Green MICHELIN-starred restaurants or those partnering with the Food made Good sustainability program by the Sustainable Restaurants Association.
Ask the server
In most restaurants, it’s hard to tell the carbon footprint of a food at a glance. If there’s little supplier information on the menu, ask your server about the provenance of their dishes – is it produced locally, farmed sustainably, or produced organically? As diners ask more questions, operators will become more aware their guests are making conscious decisions about what they order.
Order a plant-based item
Of course, when you ask a question you might not always get an answer. In the absence of information about where the products come from, you can always order the vegetarian option. The Food Made Good awards big points for restaurants where at least half our menu is vegetarian and that offer at least one vegan dish a day because factory-farmed meat, which accounts for 73 percent of the meat produced in the UK, degrades the environment.
Choose beans or lentils
Before you pick an item made from one of the trendy new alt-meats, see if there’s anything made from beans or lentils instead. Those alt-meats are likely better for the environment than factory-farmed meat. When it comes to the original plant-based protein—beans and lentils—the facts are clear: Legumes require less water than other protein sources, and they enrich the soil they’re grown in. A black bean burger is a better choice than an alt-meat burger, and either is better than a beef burger.
Go for the grains
Grains such as rye and buckwheat are cover crops, which help slow soil erosion and improve soil health. They’re also full of nutty flavour and make a great alternative to risotto. When you see these grain-forward dishes on restaurant menus, don’t sleep on them. Remember that soba noodles are made from buckwheat, and many pasta chefs these days turn to interesting grains like rye to put their own spin on the classics.
Pick local vegetables
The notion of “farm to table” has become so cliche that many restaurants don’t even mention the provenance of their produce anymore. But the fact remains that ingredients grown close to home, especially on organic farms, are better for the planet because they reduce an item’s “food miles.” That means there’s less greenhouse gasses emitted to truck them around, and small local farms tend to be some of the best stewards of the soil and land.
Enjoy mussels, clams, and oysters
These delicious bivalves are powerhouses that can actually help clean up the water they’re grown in. They don’t require feeding, there’s no chemicals involved in raising them, and they help pull carbon out of the atmosphere. As marine ecologist Antony Knights told the BBC, “Each mussel can filter 1.75 litres of seawater per hour, and given that they colonise at a density of around 500 mussels per meter squared, it becomes clear how they can have a positive impact pretty quickly.”
Splurge on regeneratively raised meat
As a rule, cutting back on beef is a good way to reduce your carbon footprint, but like every good rule, there are exceptions. Most people know that factory-farmed beef is an environmental problem; fewer understand that another kind of beef can be part of a solution. Research shows that cows can be raised on grasslands in a regenerative way that sequesters carbon, pulling it out of the atmosphere and enriching the soil. If you find this type of meat on the menu at a restaurant, order it with a clear conscience.
There are nuances to making eco-friendly choices when ordering at a restaurant, but there are also more options than some people think. You don’t have to go vegan or conduct a full supply chain investigation to make a positive impact with your choices. With these basics in mind, it’s possible to find an earth-friendly dish almost anywhere you go.
