Recipes that Cool the Climate and Excite the Senses
January 17, 2025
With culinary trendsetters leaning into sustainable practices like regenerative farming, restaurants and recipes are becoming increasingly more rooted in activism, even though dietary camps (veganism vs. nose-to-tail eating, for instance) are often at odds. This new book focuses on vegan ingredients with a low-carbon footprint. While the climate costs of meat production won't surprise ethical vegans, the recipes here might. They take standard ingredients and present them in bold, innovative ways that are sure to add a rainbow or two to folks' plates, even if the data lends toward a cloudier sense of climate doomerism. Although some of the equipment (e.g., dehydrators) and techniques (e.g., fermenting) require a bit of commitment, many of the recipes are quick to prepare, leaving readers with extra minutes to forage for more unusual ingredients or quickly google aquafaba and asafoetida if so inclined. VERDICT Climate-concerned chefs, ethical vegans or vegetarians, and anyone ready to cool down with cashew milk while steaming about the sustainability of soy will benefit from these climate-conscious culinary coups, with a climate-friendly cherry on top (in the forms of cherry nests and clafoutis aux cerises).--Emily Bowles
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