Sustainable Menu Planning – MeetGreen (2024)

FAQs

What is sustainable menu planning? ›

Sustainable menu planning reflects the decisions that organizers make regarding the selection of foods and beverages served at conferences and events. The choice of food and beverages can have a big impact on an event's environmental footprint.

In the restaurant industry, “going green” can mean many different things. Energy and water usage, food waste, packaging, sourcing – these are just a few aspects of restaurant sustainability. We are increasingly seeing that a restaurant's broader sustainability efforts influence customer decisions.

The first step to creating a sustainable and eco-friendly menu is to source local and seasonal ingredients. This not only supports local farmers and reduces carbon emissions from transport, but it also ensures that the ingredients are fresher and have a smaller carbon footprint.

Organic farming promotes a sustainable food system by avoiding synthetic fertilisers and pesticides, preserving natural resources and minimising environmental impacts. Embracing organic produce contributes to a healthier planet and supports plant-based choices.

Eat more plants than animals

In any scenario, the meat we do eat should be sustainable – so less intensively farmed livestock, only livestock fed on grass, ideally on naturally occurring rangelands. There are options for farmed fish, but the most important thing is to avoid wild fish which are being overfished.

Two dollar signs ($$): generally means that the prices at the restaurant are moderate. Three dollar signs ($$$): generally means that the prices at the restaurant are relatively expensive. Four dollar signs ($$$$): generally means that the prices at the restaurant are very expensive.

Sustainable eating involves consuming food that has a low environmental impact. It's largely plant-based and can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, pollution, and chronic diseases in humans. Sustainable food production won't happen overnight, and much of the impact comes from systems, not people.

Some common sustainable practices in food manufacturing include reducing water and energy use, minimizing waste through recycling and composting, using renewable energy sources, sourcing ingredients from local and organic producers, and promoting fair labor practices.

The same FAO document describes a sustainable food system as “a food system that delivers food security and nutrition for all in such a way that the economic, social and environmental bases to generate food security and nutrition for future generations are not compromised.

Sustainable Management of Food is an approach that seeks to reduce wasted food and its associated impacts over the entire life cycle, starting with the use of natural resources, manufacturing, sales, consumption, and ending with decisions on recovery or final disposal.

What is a sustainable plan? ›

A sustainability plan may include elements such as energy-efficiency, land use, transportation, public health, renewable energy, economic development, and more. When integrated, these elements help to improve the community's quality of life for generations to come.

Healthy, sustainable diets can include moderate amounts of animal-derived foods (such as eggs, dairy, and fish) and smaller amounts of meat, especially red meat. Wider considerations include minimising food waste and minimising packaging.