What is Cool Food?

The world is heating up, and not in a good way. Modern life is generating much more carbon dioxide (CO²) and other greenhouse gases than the planet can absorb. These gases are forming a layer around the earth that is trapping heat and disrupting whole ecosystems, as well as sea levels and weather patterns.

The whole world – including humans – is under threat from global warming. We need to reduce the level of carbon emissions we produce and shrink our carbon footprint. But, making small changes to the way we shop, cook and eat is a great place to start.

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What can you do?

We’ve created 10 commitments – or challenges – for you to take on. Each one helps you make a noticeable carbon saving. Better still, we’ve calculated that these changes can actually save you money too! Take just one commitment, or challenge yourself to more:

Introduce vegetarian meals: In terms of the food we eat, consuming meat and fish has the biggest impact on our environment. Every time you make a vegetarian meal, you could be saving more than 2kg of carbon.

Chop your meat portions in half: If you commit to halving the amount of meat of meat and fish you eat in your meals for just one year, you could save the same amount of carbon as it takes to fly from London to Rome and back!

Make your own meals: Cooking your own meal at home uses around 25% less carbon than eating ready meals. Home cooking is usually much cheaper and healthier too.

Dairy-free days: It takes a lot of energy – and carbon – to produce and process milk, yet 5.9 million glasses of milk are poured down the sink every year. Having designated dairy-free days could really cut down on the waste and cut carbon too

Don’t waste bread: In the UK, approximately 24 million whole slices of bread are thrown away every single day. We can show you how to put your excess bread to good use.

Reduce your food waste: Through meal planning and loving your leftovers, the UK could save the equivalent of 17 million tonnes of carbon dioxide being emitted into the atmosphere each year.

Buy local, seasonal and organic: By choosing local, seasonal and organic foods, you can get great tasting produce with reduced food miles, less chemicals and help endorse wildlife-friendly farming.

Swap soft drinks for tap water: Every time you choose tap water over soft drinks like fizzy pop or processed fruit juices, you could save 160g of carbon. That’s the same amount of carbon you’d use leaving a light on for 40 hours!

Have tea-free days: In the UK, we drink 165 million cups of tea every day, and boil enough water for a lot more! With 67% of people saying they overfill the kettle each time they use it, having tea-free days is a great way to cut down your carbon.

Have coffee-free days: Each cup of coffee contains an average of 148g of carbon. If you’re usually a bit of a coffee fiend, you could save an enormous amount of carbon, just by reducing your coffee consumption.

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Why join Cool Food? 

We all know that we need to shop, cook and eat more sustainably, so why bother signing up to Cool Food?

Well, we’ll do the hard work and show you just how much carbon and money you’re saving each week by sticking to your Cool Food commitments.

We’ll also give you support with a range of hints, tips and delicious recipes to inspire you to keep going. In addition, we’ll also let you know about exciting Cool Food events and workshops.

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About the project

Cool Food is a French-British project created under the INTERREG FRANCE (CHANNEL) ENGLAND PROGRAMME to support the transition to a low-carbon economy. It focuses on the development and adoption of new or existing low-carbon technologies in sectors with the highest potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The project is € 391,754 co-financed by ERDF, for a total duration of 27 months (from 30 January 2018 to 29 April 2020).

The partnership draws on the complementary skills and resources of three principal partners: Al’Terre Breizh, PECT & Cornwall Food Foundation. They are supported by three associated partners (InterBio Normandie), le Collectif des Festivals Engagés, Brighton & Hove Food Partnership. Together the partners combine expertise, local knowledge and unique regional audiences, along with engaged communities.

COOL FOOD is a Franco-British project created under the INTERREG FRANCE (CHANNEL) ENGLAND Programme.
It supports the transition to a low-carbon economy in the food sector.
Interreg