Our diet has long become a focal point of the discussion on climate change. Around 15% of our personal emissions are caused on average by our food. Country of origin, production, transport and storage play a major role when calculating the footprint of food products. For decades, we have been used to finding the same, diverse products on the shelves regardless of the season.
However, today's supermarket shelves reflect society's growing conscious approach to food. More and more local and plant-based products are finding their way into the assortment. This demonstrates how much influence consumers have on what is being offered. The ongoing trend is owed in no small degree to the climate impact that our consumer behaviour causes. In 2021, more than 50% of people said that they wanted to reduce emissions through their eating habits.
You're joining this trend? So do we. We have developed reusable seasonal calendars that help you understand the carbon impact of your fruits and vegetables at one glance. Check them out to step up your sustainability game in the kitchen:
One of the most important approaches to eating more climate-consciously and reducing the carbon footprint of one's own menu is to focus on regional and seasonal products. Just 60 years ago, this was still the common diet in Europe: the food being processed was mainly what was available in the area at the current season. Imports from all over the world were then still very rare and not accessible to everyone.
It is time to look back a few years and learn from the generation whose food consumption had significantly less impact on the carbon footprint than it does today. Traditional dishes and preparations are often based on regional products, which have long been a main component of every menu. Thanks to our grandparents and the generations before them, there is no shortage of recipes. In addition, new recipe ideas are still emerging today that transfer modern eating habits to traditional cuisine.
When you choose regional products, you are sending a signal with every purchase: it does matter what food ends up on your plate. Of course, you will quickly realise that not everything is available at all times. What belongs to your personal region is a matter of interpretation and depends on the food market situation. As a rough guideline, you can look at the products produced within a radius of 150 kilometres. Here are our 5 reasons why it pays to buy regional food:
The most important thing about food: It should taste good. But the long transport routes and extended storage times of many food items get in the way of the optimal taste experience. Often, fruits are harvested before they have reached the optimal degree of ripeness so that they can be stored for longer. We all know, for example, green bananas that only ripen on their shelves. Most products taste best when they are harvested ripe and then consumed promptly. Therefore, seasonal and locally harvested fruit and vegetables that land on the table almost immediately are the fresher and tastier choice for the diet, because the conditions are ideal. So locally grown produce is one of the easiest ways to add more and better taste to your own cooking.
Of course, our food also has a CO₂ footprint. On the one hand, this results from the production itself. On the other hand, the transport routes of our food have an impact on its footprint. The longer the distance the products travel to the supermarket, the more climate-damaging the consumption is. Many of the products we consume today travel halfway around the globe before they end up on our plates. This is true even for products that are native to our country. For example, apples from Brandenburg can be found alongside those from New Zealand. If you want to improve your CO₂ balance, you naturally reach for the German apple. Normally, the closer the country of origin, the fewer emissions are spent on transport. Seasonality also plays a role. Food that is grown out of season consumes significantly more energy and water. So it is definitely worthwhile for your own carbon footprint to use regional produce.
Our diet is an important building block for our long-term health. What is recognisable to our senses in taste can also be applied to the nutrients in food. Due to unripe harvesting, long transport routes and storage, the products not only lose aroma substances, but also a large part of the contained vitamins and nutrients. So it is also healthiest to eat ripe harvested produce as directly as possible - therefore from your region.
It seems almost too good to be true, but seasonal products from the region are in most cases extra easy on the wallet. Anyone who has become aware of the logistic effort behind our supermarket choices in the last sections will not be surprised that it saves money when this effort is significantly reduced. Of course, it is not possible to make an across-the-board statement that all regional products are cheaper. But on the average, seasonal produce is cheaper to cook with. In addition, you support local agriculture with your purchase instead of large corporations in the food industry.
At first, this argument may seem paradoxical. The variety in the supermarket is of course greater than that from regional cultivation, after all, products from all over the world pile up here. Nevertheless, regional food in Germany is by no means one-sided. If you consciously deal with your diet and open yourself up to new things, you will most likely find products that were not previously part of your standard assortment. If the regionally available products are still not colourful enough, it is worth trying out new preparation methods and combinations. This way, the regional menu will never be boring.
