Healthy, environmentally friendly and socially responsible – how an online tool helps to cook more sustainably

Peer-Reviewed / Manuscript (original contribution) received: 08.07.2019 / Revision accepted: 16.12.2019

Health as an incentive for resource-efficient nutrition

Environment and health – these two global fields of action can and must be tackled together as a resource-efficient diet is often also a healthier one [1-4]. In particular, meat-reduced diets [5], such as the „Nordic Diet” [6] or the “Mediterranean Diet” [7], have comparatively low environmental impacts. Compared to a regular mixed diet, a plant-based one has an ecological reduction potential of approximately 20-30% [8-9, supplemented by own calculations]. Some indicators even show a significantly higher reduction (e.g. land use up to 40% [10], NH₃ emissions up to 89% [11]). The less animal protein is consumed, the higher the savings potential. However, plant-based food that contributes to a constitutional healthy diet, such as some vegetables or nuts [12], some fruits as well as fish and seafood [13], can also have a high environmental impact.

Practitioners in the out-ofhome consumption sector cannot be left alone with this specific assessment. Accounting procedures as well as suitable tools are needed to help identify and compare resource-intensive food and meals and to present alternatives in a transparent manner.

Abstract

Every diet has an impact on an individual’s health status, the environment as well as on social aspects. In particular, ecological and social concerns are usually only vaguely assessed in the daily routines of out-of-home catering and a systematic sustainability assessment of meals is usually not carried out. Since May 2018, the menu calculator presented in this paper has been supporting stakeholders in various catering establishments with their sustainability assessment. The tool was developed within the NAHGAST project¹ (⇒ www.nahgast.de) in cooperation with five practice partners and tested and validated by a total of 120 recipes. This article provides an overview of selected recipes’ sustainability assessments (meals with fish and meat as well as vegetarian and vegan meals) and highlights the effects on the ecological, health and social dimensions.

Keywords: sustainable nutrition, nutritional footprint, health, environment, out-of-home catering

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