Meeting Management: F&B
Farm to Fork
Sustainable catering doesn’t have to be expensive. The alternative is what’s more costly — on many levels.
"How do I hold down expenses when I plan on going green?" "Why is it so expensive to go green?" I get asked these questions a lot. Cost is the concern that is most often raised when caterers and planners consider moving toward a zero-impact kitchen or event.
My answer comes as a surprise to many people: It's more expensive not to go green. The reason? "Food miles" - the distance a food item travels from the farm to your plate.
A Long Way From Home
Today we get the best food we can at the best price to be competitive. The challenge is that we're flying food around the world. More than half the food served in the United States is grown outside the country. Most of our food travels an average of 1,500 food miles before it gets to our tables.
Food miles for items bought in a grocery store are about 27 times greater than the food miles for goods bought from local sources. About 40 percent of our fruit is produced overseas. Nine percent of our red meat comes from locations as far away as Australia and New Zealand. The broccoli we buy at the supermarket travels an average of 1,800 miles to get there, even though broccoli is likely grown within 20 miles of the average American's house.
By using locally grown, organic food that is in season whenever possible, a caterer should be able to offer groups menu items that are priced comparably to conventionally farmed food shipped in from other parts of the country or the world.
Of course, just as cost is not the driving factor, carbon footprint is not the only consideration when it comes to sustainability. Organic farming limits the types of chemicals that can be used, minimizing its impact on the environment. It's important to recognize that sustainable farming extends beyond produce.
Our Beef With Fish
It takes 2,400 gallons of water to grow one pound of beef. The runoff from the agrichemicals in the synthetic pesticides and synthetic fertilizers that are used to grow grain to feed the cows is having devastating effects on the Gulf of Mexico. The chemicals drain into the Gulf from the Mississippi and Atchafalaya River Basins, causing microscopic phytoplankton to thrive and reproduce in large numbers. When the phytoplankton die, they sink to the ocean's bottom, where they decompose via oxygen-consuming bacteria - leaving little oxygen for other marine life.
Every year, beginning around April, an area in the Gulf becomes so oxygen-depleted that it becomes a "dead zone" that cannot support marine life. As this dead zone, which peaks in size around late July, gets larger every year, the availability of fish and seafood is reduced.
In the short term, it may seem cheaper to just continue to serve beef as often as we have in the past. But it's a matter of looking at the overall economics of the situation. In the long term, real savings is achieved by using less beef and more locally produced, sustainably grown produce.
Many caterers, hotels, and restaurants are struggling, but these troubling times still present an opportunity. We've seen that the old rules of going after short-term profits at the expense of long-term, sustainable growth don't work. We're seeing a new economy being built. Let's create long-term, sustainable change while we can.
Take Away
According to the National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service, the distance that food travels from the location where it is grown to the location where it is consumed has been steadily increasing over the past 50 years. And since 1970, truck shipping has dramatically increased, replacing more energy-efficient transportation by rail and water. Using locally grown, organic food that is in season whenever possible can benefit the environment and your bottom line.
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