Menu Change
Restaurants are adapting to a warming planet
Something fishy’s going on.
If you’re like me, you’ve noticed a lot of cephalopods on restaurant menus lately—octopus, squid, cuttlefish, etc. There’s a reason for that. In recent years, restaurants have been changing what they serve guests, thanks to climate change.
According to NOAA, market squid have multiplied off the West Coast of the U.S. over the last two decades. They have increased, “especially from San Francisco north into Oregon and Washington, in conjunction with warmer ocean waters.” And according to the journal Current Biology, the warming waters of the Northwest aren’t the only places feeling the heat. Cephalopod populations are booming worldwide—“they’re fast-growing, adaptable, and perfectly equipped to exploit the gaps left by extreme climate change and overfishing.”
Last week, I was reminded of the threat climate change poses to our food supply—and, more generally, our food cultures and traditions—after reading a new study from the National Institute of Marine Biology, Ecology and Biotechnology in Naples, Italy. It warns that if global warming continues at its current pace, tropical species could soon take over parts of Mediterranean marine ecosystems.
It’s hard to imagine the Mahi Mahi I ate in Miami just two weeks ago appearing on the menu at a Peschiera in Sicily. However, Paolo Albano, a senior scientist with the Institute and lead author of the study, suggests that it’s entirely possible this century. When Albano and other Institute researchers matched fossil records with climate data, they showed that the level of warming would probably break down a barrier of cold water along the northwest coast of Africa that has blocked nearly all tropical species from reaching and entering the Mediterranean through the eight-mile-wide Strait of Gibraltar.
So could we be saying goodbye to the only breeding ground of the Atlantic Bluefin tuna—the most valuable fish species in the world? And what about other species central to the Mediterranean diet for millennia, including anchovy, sardines, swordfish, mackerels, red mullet, bream, and sea bass? Yes, it’s possible and entirely likely if you believe the climate models.
Whether we realize it or not, climate change has been slowly and quietly remaking our diets for over a century. It impacts not just what lives in the water but also what lives on the land. And it’s remaking menus and changing the restaurant industry.
An upside, for some
During any period of change, there will be some winners, at least for a short period. And this stage of climate change is no different.
Growing seasons are already getting longer in historically cooler climates, like those in the north of Europe or the U.S. Farmers in these regions now have more time to deliver multiple harvests to their customers—think more tomatoes and corn for those of us in America who love those summer treats.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, “In the West, the length of the growing season has increased at an average rate of about 2.2 days per decade since 1895, compared with a rate of nearly one day per decade in the East. The length of the growing season has increased in almost every state.” Of course, this isn’t limited to the United States.
Some wine growers, particularly those in the Finger Lakes region of New York and even those in England, now have the opportunity to cultivate grapes unheard of just a generation ago. This is remaking the wine industry and pulling viability and interest away from those places where wine reigned supreme just a generation ago—places like the Bordeaux or Champagne regions of France.
Threats, for others
Longer growing seasons in these regions and the ability to grow new crops may seem like a good thing. However, that’s an overly simplistic view. Plenty of crops need cooler weather, like spinach and cauliflower.
Others, like apples, pears, plums, peaches, cherries, almonds, and walnuts, require varying amounts of chill time to set fruit. According to the Department of Agriculture, chill hours are the minimum amount of cold a tree needs before it will break dormancy. A lack of cool temperatures will lead to fewer yields and the possible eradication of some plants in places that get too hot.
Warmer weather and longer seasons also aid in the development of pests, weeds, and invasive species. Climate instability, which is marked by wild temperature swings, floods, and droughts, also poses significant risks.
The UN Foundation predicts that global food yields could decline by as much as 30% by 2050 if farmers aren’t able to adapt to the effects of climate change. And this isn’t limited to what ends up on our plates, but also what’s poured into our glasses.
In a TIME Magazine article last year, Diageo Plc, the world’s biggest spirits company, known for Tanqueray gin, Guinness beer, and Baileys Irish Cream, said that water scarcity is a real and present threat. Michael Alexander, global head of water, environment, and agriculture sustainability at Diageo, noted that 43 of its production sites were in water-stressed areas last year.
Restaurants adapt
Menus are changing, and restauranteurs are taking action.
William Cheung, a fisheries biologist at the University of British Columbia, says that responding to climate change is nothing new. He tracked how restaurant menus had changed in Vancouver over a century. “With a menu,” he noted in a WIRED interview last year, “you have a physical and digital record that you can compare over time.” Restaurants in his study adapted to climate change by adding more warm-water fish to their menus.
Due to high costs, some restaurants now limit how much food they import.
Restaurants are going local by seeking out farmers nearer to their locations. They’re eschewing the global supply chain in an effort to build greater resilience in their communities, according to Tara A. Scully, Director of Curriculum Development at the Global Food Institute at George Washington University. “Over the past decade, we’ve witnessed a surge of food hubs, a mutually beneficial platform where local farmers can directly sell crops, and restaurants can procure local ingredients that cater to consumers.”
Others are taking a proactive approach to tackling their environmental footprint.
Anthony Myint, the co-creator of Mission Chinese Food in San Francisco, wants restaurants to go further. He co-founded ZeroFoodprint in 2014 to help restaurant operators reduce their carbon footprint. ZeroFoodprint aims to create a more sustainable industry that can actually aid in reversing climate’s connected with over 100 farms and has removed over 97,000 tons of CO2 from the environment—that’s the equivalent of reducing the carbon footprint of 6 million Americans to zero for a year.
By taking these measures to address climate change, restaurants may be forging a path forward with little trade-off. Their resilience may be leading us to a more sustainable world.
Dr. Fabrice DeClerck, Science Director at EAT Forum, put it best: “We cannot find any evidence that there is a fundamental trade-off between food security, climate security, and environmental security.”
Now that’s some food for thought.
How have you seen menus change in recent years? How are you responding to climate change in the kitchen?
Things will change and most things will adapt, some sooner and some later. A few will go extinct while new forms arrive. This is existence as long as the world has been here.