COP21: a wake-up call for the catering industry
If you work in the catering industry, you will probably have noticed that your customers’ tastes have changed. This is partly due to people becoming more adventurous with their food choices and partly due to the fact that we are becoming more aware of the impact our choices have on the world we live in. Here we look at how the food we eat and the way in which it is cooked can have a real impact on the environment.
The COP21 climate change conference held in Paris in December 2015 achieved global agreement on how to tackle climate change and the issues affecting our environment. In addition to dealing with the ‘big issues’, such as carbon emissions and renewable energy sources, the conference looked at factors such as the food we eat and the way in which it is cooked. According to hospitality business magazine The Caterer, the COP21 climate change conference will affect both the produce the catering industry uses and the way in which the food supplied by the industry is cooked.
The food we cook
The main message that COP21 wanted to get across in relation to food is that what we eat needs to be sustainable. This can mean eating less meat and dairy and trying to find suitable, sustainable alternatives; however, it can also mean taking steps as simple as using local produce wherever possible and ensuring that your customers know it has been produced locally so that they can be confident they are not contributing towards the world’s environmental issues. The catering industry can play a key role in helping its customers to make environmentally-friendly choices.
How you cook
Although caterers and people cooking in their own homes will always need to use gas or electricity, it is possible to reduce the environmental impact by investing in efficient and more environmentally-friendly equipment.
If you think your current catering equipment could do with an upgrade, you could sell it using food machinery auctioneers such as www.clarke-fussells.co.uk/ and put the proceeds towards some modern catering equipment that will stand the test of time while reducing your impact on the environment.
Thinking about the food you cook and how you cook it can play a small but very important role in reducing the impact on the global environment.
