Making an Environmently Friendly Meal
Some Baltimore-based researchers and chefs are looking into how people's diets can be more environmentally friendly.
Choosing Squash
Baltimore chef and restaurant owner Spike Gjerde compares different varieties of squash with Roni Neff of Johns Hopkins University. For a climate-friendly meal, they opt for a blue hubbard grown by an Amish farmer in southern Pennsylvania. Photo: Jon Miller/Homelands Productions
Buying Kale
Steve Dietrich (left) of Planet Produce mostly stocks in-season local fruits and vegetables, but carries some imported goods for shoppers who expect to find everything fresh all the time. Kale grows nearly year-round in Maryland. Photo: Jon Miller/Homelands Productions
Shucking Oysters
Gjerde and chef Ben Lambert shuck farmed Chesapeake Bay oysters. Oyster farms get high marks for sustainability, but flying oysters to distant markets can offset their climate benefits. Gjerde’s Woodberry Kitchen opened in 2007. Photo: Jon Miller/Homelands Productions
Maryland Wine
Wine’s carbon footprint comes mainly from bottling and storage, though transportation contributes as well. Whether a local wine is more climate-friendly than an imported one may depend on whether you drove to the store to buy it. Photo: Jon Miller/Homelands Productions
Cutting Costs
Blue hubbard squash bakes in the oven. There are many ways to save energy while cooking, from covering pots to cutting food into smaller pieces that cook more quickly. Neff recommends buying Energy Star appliances. Photo: Jon Miller/Homelands Productions
Finished Product
For their climate-friendly meal, Gjerde and Lambert invented the main course as they went along. Gjerde says Woodberry Kitchen’s menu can change several times a day, depending on what’s available. Photo: Jon Miller/Homelands Productions
Set Table
The squash dish is accompanied by wine, oysters, turnips and rolls. Although meat consumption has declined in recent years, Americans still eat more than 270 pounds per person per year. One way to reduce that is to use meat as a complementary ingredient, rather than the meal’s centerpiece. Photo: Jon Miller/Homelands Productions
