What’s your dinner’s carbon footprint?

Bon Appétit’s interactive tool can help

By Kim Carlson

April 10, 2009

Every day we make choices about what to eat based on taste preferences, cost, and health. But how often do we make food choices based on carbon dioxide?

On April 22, the day most of us celebrate Earth Day, Bon Appétit Management Company — the corporation that feeds many American college students and business people — will celebrate Low Carbon Diet Day. The company is bringing awareness to the fact that food production is responsible for as much as a third of the greenhouse-gas emissions that cause global warming.

Wondering about the carbon impact of your dinner choices? BAMC has created a nifty interactive tool — the low-carbon diet calculator — that can help raise your awareness; just drag and drop your food into the cast-iron skillet to learn more. A surprise: Tofu has a higher carbon footprint than chicken. No surprise: Beef is higher than both put together.