Back to Our Roots

Rethinking Food Sustainability

Maybe you have noticed this too: wherever we look, the sustainability conversation seems stuck in an endless loop of plant versus animal foods.

I have long felt that the sustainability conversation is polarising and unnuanced - as so many conversations of our time.

But what if we're asking the wrong questions entirely?

The Hidden Cost of "Sustainable" Solutions

Here's the thing: A plant-based burger isn't just plants. It's a factory-made product assembled from ingredients that have traveled across continents, each processed in different facilities, each requiring energy, water, and resources to transform from their original state into something entirely new.

Nobody calls a cabbage "plant-based." A cabbage is just a cabbage - plant that grows in soil.

But a plant-based product? That's processed, molecularized plant matter, reassembled in factories, shipped across oceans, and marketed as the solution to our environmental crisis.

I think we're missing the forest for the trees.

Working With Nature, Not Against It

Sustainability isn't about choosing between plants and animals. It's about how our food is produced, who produces it, and how far it travels to reach our plate.

When we look deeper, we see that true sustainability emerges from small-scale operations rather than industrial megafarms, from farmer-owned businesses rather than corporate conglomerates, from regenerative practices rather than factory farming. It's about choosing handmade over machine-processed, and local over globally shipped. These aren't just alternatives – they're the foundation of a food system that can sustain both people and planet.

Think about this: The most sustainable car you can drive isn't a new electric vehicle – it's the oldest car you can keep running. The environmental cost of manufacturing a new car, even an electric one, often outweighs the efficiency benefits. (Like everything else, this calculation too is nuanced and complicated, and there's data about this here and here).

The same principle applies to our food system.

The Wisdom of Ancient Practices

Our ancestors knew something we seem to have forgotten: how to work with nature's cycles rather than against them. Claiming to 'know better than nature' is very much a modern day arrogance of the human species.

What if sustainability really meant:

- Using seasonal local vegetables when they're naturally abundant

- Consuming local meats and using the whole animal, not just prime cuts

- Cooking with stems and leaves, not just the "pretty" parts

- Working with what we have instead of buying prescribed quantities

- Preserving abundance for leaner times

- Reducing waste by reusing, upcycling, and composting

The Consumerist Trap

Somehow, our drive to be more sustainable has been hijacked by the same old consumption patterns. We're still being sold more stuff – it's just wearing a different label.

Take "plastic-free" products. I'm all for reducing plastic, but I question whether buying new bamboo brushes shipped from across the globe really is the answer? Or are we just feeding the same consumption machine with a fresh coat of green paint?

Convenience is Not the Answer

The path to genuine sustainability might be both simpler – and more challenging – than we think. One thing is sure: it requires us to get out of our bubble of consumerism and convenience.

This means returning to seasonal eating patterns and supporting local farmers and food artisans who work with nature's rhythms. It means taking the time to learn traditional food preservation techniques that our grandparents took for granted. It means cooking from scratch with whole ingredients and finding creative ways to reduce food waste in our kitchens. Most importantly, it means building direct relationships with the people who produce our food and questioning the industrialization that has crept into every corner of our food system. These aren't just changes we make – they're relationships we build, skills we develop, and wisdom we reclaim.

Beyond the Plant vs Animal Debate

We need to fundamentally shift how we think about and interact with our food system, beyond isolated emission numbers and dogmatic theories.

Beyond all the fearmongering, we need to remember: both CO2 and methane are natural molecules integral to Earth's cycles - from photosynthesis to soil building.

The issue isn't their existence, but rather the context and scale: natural cycles working in balance versus industrial processes overwhelming the system. We always need to look at the whole picture rather than fixating on isolated numbers.

The real sustainability question isn't about choosing between plant or animal products. It's about making a point in choosing:

- Natural over artificial

- Local over global

- Whole over processed

- Traditional wisdom over industrial efficiency

- Regenerative practices over extractive ones

Reclaiming Our Food Future

The most sustainable approach to food isn't about following the latest trend or buying new products with green labels. It's about returning to our roots, working with nature's rhythms, and rediscovering the wisdom that kept humans fed for millennia before the industrial revolution.

If you are ready to rethink what sustainable food really means, here's how to start:

- Learn to cook with whole ingredients

- Get to know your local farmers

- Master the art of using everything (stems, peels, bones, and all)

- Build your cooking confidence to work with what you have

- Question whether that "sustainable" product is really sustainable

- Connect with traditional food wisdom

- Trust your common sense about what's natural and what isn't

Remember: The most sustainable food system isn't built in factories – it's grown in soil, tended by hands, and cooked in kitchens.

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PS. Next time you're tempted by a new "sustainable" food product, ask yourself: Would my great-grandmother recognize this as food? The answer might tell you more about its sustainability than any label ever could.

Categories: : (RE)THINK