With over two years of success, the Grantham’s Climate-Friendly Pop-Up Kitchen offers visitors samples of delicious planet-friendly meals prepared by professional caterers plus tips on cost-effective sustainable cooking. In this blog, the team behind the now award-winning pop-up kitchen, Linsey Wynton and Nicole Kuchapski, preview what’s on offer and share tips on foods that are good for the planet, good for your health and affordable.
[*Please note, this blog was updated on 18 February 2025, following earlier publications in June 2022, May 2023 and March 2024]
Sustainable sustenance
The food we eat – and waste – is the second biggest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions after the energy industry, according to the National Food Strategy. So, given that we all need to eat, what can we do to lower the climate footprint of our meals? And how can we do so in a way that is affordable during a cost-of-living crisis?
Grantham’s Climate-Friendly Pop-Up Kitchen aims to explain. The idea came after Grantham Institute members who attended the United Nations Climate Change Conference COP26 in Glasgow in November 2021 noticed all foods were marked with a climate footprint. A similar carbon traffic light system for supermarket foods is currently being explored by Foundation Earth.
To raise awareness about planet-friendly food this year, the Grantham Institute will be working with community cookery school Made in Hackney, which has expertise in teaching communities how to cook sustainably. The Grantham Institute runs the pop-up kitchen with support from one of our Challenge Teams of Doctorial Training Partnership students.
Recipe cards and leaflets explaining the climate impact of certain foods and offering top tips for eating sustainably will be given out on recycled paper and as QR codes. There will also be the chance to chat to Imperial experts including Dr Charlotte Vrinten, Dr Zeinab Mulla and Elizabeth Fonseca about topics ranging from how to interest kids in plant-based meals, to culinary tips to reduce food waste, and even eating crickets as a source of dietary protein.
We’ll also be showcasing a Future Fridge containing replicas of foods we are consuming more of including plant-based milks and foods we are likely to be eating in the future, including lab grown meat, wrinkled pea protein and cricket nuggets!
The pop-up kitchen was so popular when it launched in 2022 it’s inspired a Food Zone at the festival. This will include a demo kitchen where chef Jethro Carr will be demonstrating how to cook climate-friendly meals from 12.00 to 12.45 each day, with support from Elizabeth Fonseca, a researcher from Imperial’s Centre for Environmental Policy, and Dr Zeinab Mulla, a senior teaching fellow in the School of Public Health.
Why does it matter?
What we eat – and what we don’t – matters. Around 26% of global greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) come from the agriculture sector. More than half of these emissions come from animal-based products, with beef and lamb the worst offenders.
Added to that, a third of all food is thrown away. The production of that food, transportation of the food waste and rotting of it in landfill sites creates one twelfth of global greenhouse gas emissions. Indeed, if food waste were a country, it would be the third highest emitter in the world, according to the Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations.
Food that’s good for you, good for the planet and good for your wallet
At Grantham’s Climate-Friendly Pop-Up Kitchen, we’ll be running some interactive games to help you figure out, firstly, which foods are good for you and the planet and are also affordable and healthy, as well as suggestions on reducing food waste. To get you started, here are some of our top tips:
Eat less meat and dairy
Lowering your meat and dairy intake is one of the most important things you can do to reduce your climate impact. Eating less meat also has health benefits, such as reducing the risk of certain cancers and heart disease.
Try making your favourite meals without meat, or with less meat, and eat more fruit, vegetables, wholegrains, beans, pulses, nuts and seeds. Experiment with different plant-based ingredients, like lentils, beans, nuts, seeds, tofu, tempeh and mycoprotein. These can often be cheaper than meat!
You can pack a flavour punch with condiments and seasonings like garlic, chilli, lemon juice, miso paste, soy sauce, curry paste, coriander, mint, nutritional yeast and smoked spices.
Waste less
Avoiding food waste not only helps the climate, it saves you money. When you can, try to plan meals – write a shopping list of what you need, batch cook and freeze extras and use your food waste recycling bin if you have one. Using a refillable water bottle, instead of canned and bottled drinks, also means less packaging waste.
When you have food leftover, or are in need to some, try using food sharing apps like Olio, which connects neighbours with each other and local businesses so surplus food can be shared. This could be food nearing its sell-by date in local stores, spare home-grown vegetables, or the groceries in your fridge before you go away. You can also give and receive any surplus tins, jars or packets at food banks.
Choose local and in-season produce
Another simple way to reduce the environmental impact of your food is to eat locally-grown food, as this reduces the emissions produced from chilling and transporting food. Meanwhile, less emissions will be needed in the production of food that is grown in season with natural heat and light.
You can look for foods produced close to home, for example, at a local farmers’ market, or through a community farm veg box, or try growing your own – join an allotment or experiment with tomatoes or herbs on a windowsill.
We hope you can join us at Grantham’s Climate Friendly Pop-Up Kitchen, but if you can’t make it…
See our related blogs on Veganuary – going plant based with the family on board; reducing your food waste footprint; future proofing-bananas in the face of climate change; and going nuts for the planet.
