Christmas Dinner is a big deal in a lot of households. There is no ifs or buts about it, the prospect of a festive feast is always a heart-warming one. Unfortunately food production is the biggest cause of tropical deforestation as well as a number of unfortunate environmental consequences but don't worry, we're here to help you with a guilt-free Christmas Dinner!
1) Checking your food waste: Food production is a contributing factor to a number of environmental issues, the least we can do to mitigate this is to simply make sure to eat all of the food we buy. Unfortunately during Christmas roughly 5 million Christmas puddings, 2 million turkeys and 74 million mince pies each year get thrown out in the UK each year, let alone everything else. This is rather a lot of food to waste for just one festive period, so if you have leftovers, enjoy them on Boxing day instead. Just cover it with eco-friendly cling film or alternatives such as tupperware or foil and enjoy whenever you want!
2) Eat more plants: Eating more plant-based meals has been found to be good both for you and the environment! With animal agriculture being reported to be responsible for 14.5% of greenhouse gas emissions as of 2018, shifting towards eating more plant-based meals is a shift that we can all get behind. If you really want to go all out on Christmas you can try to negate your Christmas Dinner by eating more plant-based meals leading up to and also after Christmas, who knows? Maybe you'll end up on a more plant-based diet?
3) Knowing your logos: Food that hasn’t been made as sustainably as possible is unfortunately common these days. That’s why if you know your logos, you can pick the right brands for the environment. Try to find UK produce which has fewer food miles as well as sustainability certifications like RSPO- certified palm oil and MSC-certified seafood.
4) Eating seasonally: Buying locally-produced products when they’re in season is an easy way to ensure your regular food shop is more sustainable as it reduces the energy costs of growing the product. This means avoiding buying food that is out of season like hot-house tomatoes or asparagus shipped from Peru in winter.