Sustainable eating can help you make a conscious approach to food consumption. It doesn’t only benefit our personal health but also helps in saving the planet. When you pick locally sourced, seasonal produce, you minimise transportation emissions besides supporting local economies. While you relish organic, freshly-grown farm vegetables and fruits, you also help in positively contributing to the soil health. Keeping this in mind, several chefs in Kolkata are adapting an Earth-healthy approach in the kitchens. This World Environment Day, My Kolkata spoke to six representatives from the food scene in Kolkata to know how sustainable eating can contribute to a healthier earth.
Experts explain sustainable eating
For most of us, the journey of food begins from the markets and ends on our plates. But in reality the journey has many twists and turns, and the road is bumpy. We fail to think about the source of ingredients and produce we consume on a daily basis. So how do we know if the food we eat is healthy to us and the Earth? For celebrity chef Shaun Kenworthy, sustainable eating is eating fresh food every day. “Kolkata has loads of markets where one can get local fresh produce and seasonal vegetables. Choosing them over getting stuff from outside is sustainable eating. It is basically going back to the basics to know what we eat and where it comes from.”
Celebrity chef Shaun Kenworthy
Sayani Sengupta, a team lead for The Locavore volunteer-chefs and owner of Gooseberri, a venue catering service in Kolkata, has been promoting sustainable eating through her curated menus. She feels, “sustainable eating has recently gained a lot of prevalence especially with the rise of global warming. Our lifestyle and eating habits dictate the local market, farming, increasing or decreasing our carbon footprints and so on and so forth. Maintaining sustainability in eating supports local communities, increases consumption of local and seasonal produces, reduces pollution during transit, enriches biodiversity.”
Sayani Sengupta, owner of Gooseberri
How city eateries are moving towards sustainability
Many city restaurants, cafes and eateries have already started adapting sustainable methods to reduce the ecological footprint. Sienna Store and Cafe in south Kolkata has been curating menus to promote hyperlocal ingredients fresh from the markets to the plates. Co-head chef Avinandan Kundu said, “At Sienna kitchen, we have always gone after the Baajaar to Table concept where seasonal, local produce are the hero of our recipes. We intend to continue with that.” Kundu also feels many other places are moving towards sustainability but it is still a long way to go for restaurants.
Avinandan Kundu, head chef, Sienna Cafe
The luxury hotels in the city too are looking at adapting sustainable approaches. The newly inaugurated Hyatt Centric Kolkata in Ballygunge prides in being an environment-conscious hotel dedicated to sustainability. Glen Dsouza, general manager of the hotel, highlighted, “Being environment-friendly and embracing sustainability are not just policies but fundamental aspects of our ethos. They guide our actions, influence our decisions, and shape the experiences we offer our guests. For example, our tea amenities are completely free of plastic, offering our guests a sustainable choice for their in-room refreshments. We use rice straws as an eco-friendly alternative to plastic straws, helping to reduce plastic pollution.”
Glen Dsouza, general manager, Hyatt Centric Kolkata
Sustainability begins at home
Respect the ingredient: For chef Preetam Bhadra, culinary head, Annaja—Amar Khamar, respecting the ingredient is the primary intent that leads to sustainability. Throwing light on his practices he said, “For both at home and my professional kitchen, I shop only what I need. I think about whether I would be able to respect the ingredient: use the whole ingredient, including the peels if it is a vegetable, and the offals if it’s meat or fish. We do use a lot of meat and fish scraps, to enhance flavour and the peels of the vegetables often go into making rich finishing sauces and glazes; and of course some basic fermentation and pickling.”
Chef Preetam Bhadra, culinary head, Annaja
Shop seasonal: Avinandan Kundu also pointed out that “eating habits in our (Bengali) culture is largely seasonal and no-waste. In older times, people used to use every part of the vegetables, fruits etc. If you go back in time, you will realise that people used to know what fruits and vegetables are available at what time. That way seasonality was maintained.”
Make little changes at home: For Sayani, small changes in our daily routine can also make eating sustainable. “Reducing food waste, increasing composting, eating local and seasonal produces, selecting reusable and biodegradable kitchenware, opting for appliances which are energy efficient, cooking simple dishes in less quantity and consuming fresh go a long way.”
Curb the buffet format: Shaun Kenworthy through his regular cooking reels urges people to visit the local markets to procure fresh produce rather than ordering online or buying from supermarkets. He also urges people to curb the buffet format of serving food in events and restaurants.
Repurpose your meals: Preetam Bhadra says, “Carry your own bag, pick your ingredients and don’t necessarily go for the nicest looking vegetables because the ones you reject will probably go to waste. Remember good-looking doesn’t always mean better tasting. Try various ways to transform ingredients: you got some pretty dry lau, make some chhenchki or you got some extra vegetables that might spoil, make some ferments. Try repurposing your meals, if you made some more than you need. Think like the grower or the farmer, what would they do to respect their produce.”
Teach ’em young
Raja Sadhukhan, principal, IHM Kolkata
While promoting sustainability in every household is necessary, training young aspiring chefs to be sustainable is equally important for the earth. Hospitality management institutes like IHM Kolkata in Taratala are doing their bit to imbibe sustainable value in the young minds who will go on to work in the commercial kitchens. Raja Sadhukhan, principal of the institute said, “We use more whole grains in the regular practical menu. Use of seasonal fruits and vegetables are also included in practical classes in the kitchen and bakery. Simultaneously, we give more attention to local methods of cooking and traditional recipes of the region while promoting grains like kuttu, madua, bajra etc. We have also developed edible cutlery with the help of whole grains.”
Ashok Kumar Prasad, head of the culinary department, IHM Kolkata added, “We have continuous R&D activities conducted by the institute to find out innovative uses of plant-based products and incorporation of the same in the menu. This results in value addition in the nutrition content of the food without compromising the environmental health.”
When it comes to sustainability, a little goes a long way.
