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Food with a carbon counter - 7th October 2022

There's a new restaurant in southwest England. Its name is 'The Canteen'. The menu at The Canteen is special. You can see the carbon footprint of all the dishes.

The Canteen is teaching people about their food. Food is connected to the climate and the environment.

Laura Hellwig: "I think people are a lot more aware nowadays that the climate crisis is here and that they have to act. And obviously, we hope, we're urging the government to act by for example, implementing carbon counting. But it's also really important that people know people power's a big, big driver for change."

The Canteen makes vegan food. Vegan dishes don’t use meat or milk products. They use vegetables. Cooking and eating vegetables is good for the environment. It has a small carbon footprint. A hamburger has a big carbon footprint. Carbon footprints help us help the environment.

Enyioma Anomelechi: "I think it's interesting. However, when I go out to eat, I normally go out for enjoyment, right? But if you could tell me, what, if I went shopping for example, eating at home - what my carbon footprint was for my shop, I'd be much more inclined to change what's in my shopping basket."

The Canteen gets its food from places near the restaurant. Local food and no meat makes the carbon footprint small. Experts helped the restaurant with the carbon footprint for their dishes.

Nathan Johnson went to the restaurant.

Nathan Johnson: "I think that's quite useful. I think it might, if I was choosing between two dishes, maybe depending on how hungry I was, I might choose the one with a lower, lower footprint, just you know, it's useful to see."

Will the carbon footprint help? Will people choose different dishes?

Sally Wright: "It wouldn't necessarily change how I ordered. But it would be interesting because I think it would strike up conversation when you're ordering, like over your table, which might then change your decisions when you're going shopping in the future."