Biodiverse dining
Chefs are cooking up biodiverse menus that cater to climate-conscious diners. The United States has lost 90% of native fruit and vegetable varieties since the 1900s. Today, just 12 plant sources and five animal sources make up 75% of the food we consume, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, despite the fact that there are approximately 300,000 edible plant species globally. And just three crops—wheat, corn and rice —make up almost 60% of plant-based calories in most modern diets.
This reliance on a handful of species poses a serious threat to ecosystems and food security. Biodiversity is crucial for ensuring everything from human health to ecological stability to wildlife protection, as the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) attests. The wildlife conservation organization’s March 2019 “Future 50 Foods” campaign, in collaboration with Knorr, hopes to encourage people to diversify their diets in an e ort to protect endangered species.
The “Future 50 Foods” report includes a list of 50 plant-based ingredients consumers and chefs can incorporate into meals. “Diversified diets not only bene t human health but bene t the environment through diversified production systems that encourage wildlife and more sustainable use of resources,” explains Peter Gregory, research advisor at Crops For the Future, which contributed to the WWF campaign.
At Teranga, a West African eatery that opened in New York City in February 2019, chef and owner Pierre Thiam emphasizes ingredients that expand today’s limited diet. “By supporting underutilized crops in my menus, I contribute to saving our planet’s biodiversity,” Thiam told Forbes.com. “In the current context, designing a menu should be a conscious and responsible act.”
Teranga’s menu features ingredients like baobab, moringa and fonio, overlooked in the West, which are not only central to West African cuisine but also support biodiversity. Take the ancient grain fonio. “It’s a grain that’s great for the planet,” said Thiam. “It’s drought resistant; it grows in two months; it scores low on the glycemic index, so it’s great for your health too.”
Lou, which opened in Nashville last year, substitutes more conventional processed sugars with ingredients such as coconut sugar and buckwheat to achieve a more diverse diet. “By actively championing biodiversity inside and outside the kitchen, chefs can play a key role in creating interest in and a market for more diverse ingredients, helping to support farmers’ livelihoods, improve diets and strengthen our food systems,” Marie Haga, executive director of the Global Crop Diversity Trust, which supports crop diversity to protect global food security, told Forbes.
Why it’s interesting: As examples such as the recent surge in veganism and the sweeping renouncement of plastic straws illustrate, diners are shifting their eating habits to support environmental efdorts. Diversified diets offer another avenue for environmental activism—and a tastier meal.
