Bristol venue adds carbon footprint to its menu

The Canteen hopes to reduce its carbon footprint by buying local ingredients and reducing food waste.

Manager Liam Stocks said that “cleaning up the food chain” should take priority.

The carbon footprint includes the distance at which ingredients travelled, seasonality of ingredients and emissions during production.

Kierra Box, trade and environmental regulation campaigner at environmental charity Friends of the Earth, said switching diets to more carbon-neutral foods could have a huge impact on climate change.

To reduce the carbon footprint of one’s diet, avoiding meat and dairy products is one of the biggest contributors, according to recent scientific studies.

Ms Box said: “Generating these conversations is important and can have a big impact on consumers.

“However, the government and food suppliers should be taking the main responsibility for cleaning up our food chain.”

Mr Stocks said having the carbon information available at the Stokes Croft venue has proved it is getting people thinking in the right way.

“I have never done anything that has gotten as much interest as this project,” he said.

“It’s a really positive thing to get consumers – and us – thinking about where our food comes from.”