When it comes to fresh food, we know what we should do: buy local, eat less meat, look for fish approved by the Good Fish Guide. But what about the items in our store cupboard – the sauces, spices, condiments, spreads and ingredients that are canned, jarred or dried? How do we choose them so as to inflict as little damage on the planet as possible?
The bad news is, it’s not that simple. Sustainability is a complex hydra. “There are social criteria, health criteria, embedded carbon [all the CO2 emitted in producing a product throughout its lifecycle] and embedded water [all the water entailed],” says Tim Lang, professor of food policy at City, University of London and the person who coined the phrase “food miles”. For example, buying dried pulses and cooking them yourself will reduce the energy expended on packaging and transporting cans, but it entails more emissions than in a factory where the process is streamlined. In theory, dried fruits and spices have a low environmental impact – but this is increased if they are quickly freeze dried rather than dried slowly in the sunshine.
