Sustainable Cuisine, What Is Sustainable Cuisine and What Benefits Does it Offer for Improving the Quality of Food, Health and the Environment

Background
Sustainable Cuisine
Community Benefits
Ecological and Environmental Benefits
Improved Food

Background

As transport improves, borders come down and tastes broaden, the food we eat comes from becomes increasingly distant and diverse locations. The inhabitants of major cities around the world can access any food from anywhere, regardless of the season. Apples are a winter fruit available year round because of storage in chemical and temperature controlled environments, cherries can be eaten at the height of winter after being flown half way around the world, tuna caught off southern Australia today can be for sale in a Japanese fish market tomorrow. The idea of sustainable cuisine asks us to question these practices.

Sustainable Cuisine

What is sustainable cuisine? Sustainable cuisine is much more than just 'food miles'. Sustainable cuisine is an environmentally sustainable food system that uses food products grown, harvested, processed, packaged and shipped or distributed with the minimal environmental impact. These boundaries typically mean products meeting the criteria are local or organic.

Community Benefits

Sustainable cuisine also has benefits for the local community as well as the environmental benefits. By encouraging local supply of foods this contributes to a strong local economy, promotes a sense of community, plus it protects local farms and farming families.

Ecological and Environmental Benefits

Sustainable cuisine has numerous ecological and environmental benefits. Due to the nature of sustainable cuisine it encourages the adoption of organic and biodynamic farming practices. The result of this is more nutritious food, improved soil quality, better water quality, local biodiversity and energy conservation.

Improved Food

Due to sustainable cuisine often being seasonal produce sourced from local farms using ecologically sound farming practices, when eaten the food can be fresher and have a greater nutitional content. Many also feel that food farmed in this manner tastes better.

Source: AZoCleantech