What is the ecological footprint of a culinary menu at a restaurant? How does the footprint decrease when we replace meat with locally sourced, Dutch vegetables, like celeriac? Every season, three Dutch chefs design an ‘impactmenu’: a menu with a low environmental footprint by using locally grown products. This is part of the Dutch Cuisine campaign in which they demonstrate how using local products can decrease the environmental impact of food consumption.
In this campaign, we calculate the CO2-footprint of these menu’s using a Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) approach. We compare these footprints to that of a regular menu. This way, we demonstrate that a conscious choice for locally grown food and a more plant-based diets can lead to positive effects for the environment: reduction in greenhouse gas emissions can be as high as 90% in the impact menus! We can thus realize signficant impact by the way that we consume food.
In the videos below, Estée Strooker and Leon Mazairac, two Dutch chefs, show how you can use local ingredients to create a high-quality meal.
