Eat dal to be eco-friendly

A new study says the Indian diet is naturally low carbon footprint-friendly. Up your sustainability quotient by cooking with local produce, relying on marts that don’t fly down ingredients, and delivery agents who use electric transport

Who knew that eating dal as a daily source of protein could make Indians more eco-friendly and reduce their carbon imprint? We may be floundering in many areas as a nation, but according to a recent study by a team of researchers at Louisiana’s Tulane University, our natural diet helps us maintain a lower carbon footprint. The US had the highest carbon footprint, while India had the smallest, said the study, which surveyed and studied the food consumption of Germany, India, the Netherlands, Oman, Thailand, Uruguay and the United States. Diego Rose, Professor and Director of Nutrition, School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Tulane University, and the paper’s corresponding author, told Mongabay-India, “India’s guidelines have the lowest carbon footprint from all the ones we studied. Close to half [48 per cent] of the footprint is due to the dairy recommendation, about 30 per cent comes from vegetables and 13 per cent from grains.”

The sustainable packaging at Living Food Co

As chef and culinary expert Mariko Amekodommo, who is a California girl, now settled in Goa, says, “We first have to understand why a carbon footprint occurs. It’s about the greenhouse gases emitted from animal produce, or raiding the food for that animal. One of the main reasons [for lower carbon footprint] is because Indians include pulses as a protein  source, while countries like Germany and the US, only consume meat, eggs and milk as main protein sources.” Amekodommo advises that one eat as local as possible, as even the gases emitted from the transport required to get a non-local food product to you adds to your carbon footprint. “For me, the hardest challenge has been not to buy ingredients like Italian pasta or gram oil. Think about the gases emitted as they travel on planes and cargo ships to get here. We can make do with pasta made in India, or use local oil.”

Akash Sajith

How far your food has travelled to get to your kitchen is increasingly becoming part of the consumption discourse. India, in the past few years, has become home to good-quality indigenous products that don’t require breaking the bank or cause harm to the environment. And many such hyper market places are also making sure they reduce their carbon footprint. Bengaluru-based Living Food Company, which is an online marketplace selling fresh, organic food delivering pan India, is one such example. Akash Sajith, CEO and founder, says that the company “travels the least distance possible from its source to the customers’ house—until teleportation comes along!” Also, 30 per cent of Living Food’s delivery fleet is currently electric. “We also mostly make to order; subscriptions give us more predictability, and our partners know approximately how many units they need to manufacture for the next four weeks at any given time. Also, subscriptions are habit-forming for consumers. We have zero food wastage because we do not manufacture in bulk or do excessive cold storage,” says Sajith. Their packaging has also been designed keeping sustainability in mind. “The packaging has been 95 per cent plastic-free for the last three years. Since its inception, we have opted for alternative packaging with innovative solutions such as banana leaves, areca bowls, paper, and bamboo containers,” he explains. And hence, freshly harvested leafy greens and vegetables are wrapped in banana leaves with anti-bacterial properties. Living Food Co’s Areca bowls (essentially dried palm leaves) deliver living microgreens, with roots intact to its customers. The areca bowls also command a lower price than its traditional plastic counterpart, at Rs 7 per unit.

Chef Regi Mathew

Five-star hotels are now taking note. Kamlesh Salve, executive chef, at the Mirador, Andheri East, says that the hotel has started buying only from local farmers. “By supporting them, we are not only reducing the carbon footprint, but also supporting local businesses,” says Salve. The other things that Salve and his team do include using energy efficient appliances in the kitchen. “We also try to recycle and reuse as much as possible.” His advice to readers at home is simple—“Regularly service your appliances so that they don’t consume too much energy. And incorporate more plant-based items in your diet, and buy and eat local. Don’t run after exotic fruits and vegetables.”

Even independent restaurant owners are being innovative and introducing recipes in their kitchens that use healthy and local ingredients, and are cooked in ways that will make sure they are keeping the environment in mind. The restaurant Kappa Chakka Kandhari with outposts in Chennai and Bengaluru was founded by chef Regi Mathew, John Paul, and Augustine Kurian, to pay homage to the simple, evocative food cooked by their mothers. Named after three ingredients unique to Kerala, the tapioca, jackfruit and bird’s eye chilli, Kappa Chakka Kandhari is built on the vision of reclaiming traditional Kerala food for a new generation and bringing the state’s hidden culinary gems to light. Some of their signature dishes include the pazham kanji, which is a traditional Kerala dish made by soaking leftover rice in water overnight to ferment and eating it in the morning as it is healthy, nutritious and good for your gut; and the prawn kizhi, a dish that uses banana leaves for steaming.

Ramasery idli made in earthenware pots at Kappa Chakka Kandhari

They usually cook in earthenware, with the open vessel technique. The restaurant even stores drinking water for guests in earthenware bottles—helping to keep it cool without refrigeration, techniques they recommend to people cooking at home as well. This age-old practice of drinking water from a clay pot is not just an alternative to glass or other containers, but also a therapeutic choice to adopt, say experts.  One of the reasons is the alkaline properties in clay, which interact with acidic foods and provide the adequate pH balance in the body.

Mariko Amekodommo

“We get all our ingredients from kitchen gardens of local farmers, where they don’t use fertilisers. We have held workshops with them [farmers] on eco-friendly measures. The produce comes fresh by train every day. The water used is also from the backwaters, which is harvested in traditional ways,” says chef Mathew, who believes India can manage to balance the need to provide to urban sources, by teaching the vast rural farmer population to continue following traditional means of production. “What we have been doing for years, is a sustainable form. We shouldn’t stray from our path. Traditional farming can also reduce soil erosion, and improve soil strength. If we just stick to how we farmed in the olden days, and be traditional in the kitchen, we can even improve on our carbon imprint more.”

What is carbon footprint?

A carbon footprint is the total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions caused by an individual, event, organisation, service, place or product. Greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide and methane, can be emitted through the burning of fossil fuels, and the production and consumption of food and manufactured goods.

How to reduce your carbon footprint?

Consume local and seasonal foods as much as you can. It reduces the pollution caused due to transportation. 
Resist buying packaged food, which is also imported. For example, eating Indian fish is better than ordering salmon. 
Drink water out of earthenware pots. It cools the water naturally, without using refrigeration techniques. 

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