Welcome to the Climate Kitchen newsletter, a new content universe for climate-curious parents.

What Does It Mean To Raise a Climate-Smart Eater?

By Sonalie Figueiras

The question of ‘What is climate-smart eating?’ is one the Climate Kitchen team has attempted to answer with our Food Values, but putting that into practice to ensure your kids grow up to be climate-smart eaters is far more complex, and thinking about it led me to ask even more questions.

This question has been on my mind since I became a mom six years ago. This essay was supposed to be my attempt to answer it. I figured this would be a one-and-done essay. When I sat down to start writing, I quickly realized the topic is far more complex and nuanced than one article can answer. So: welcome to my new series.

Is climate-smart eating the same thing as healthy eating? Is it the same thing as ethical eating? Is it the same thing as low-waste eating? I want to say yes to all of these. But teaching these concepts to babies, toddlers, tweens, and teens is not so straightforward. These concepts don’t all align perfectly with each other. Grey areas abound. How do you teach your kids about where meat comes from? If you follow a vegan lifestyle, you might talk about factory farming. But if you are not vegan, like the vast majority of people, how do you approach the topic? The reality is that the majority of meat we consume comes from intensive livestock agriculture. Which is very much at odds with the happy cows kids see in their farm storybooks or even their cartons of milk. What is the right age to introduce this subject? And when you do, do you commit to only consuming the most ethically and sustainably raised animal foods? Your kid might start to ask you questions like ‘What about at school? Is the cafeteria using ethical sourcing?’, and ‘What about my friend Tom’s house? Where do his parents get the chicken they eat?’

This brings me to another question: How do you raise a respectful eater? Your child needs to be able to express their dietary needs, particularly if they have allergies or follow a cultural/religious way of eating. But how do you explain factory farming to them while ensuring your little one doesn’t call out or judge others around them who may not be thinking about these topics or making the same food choices? I am committed to raising polite and considerate humans, who say please and thank you, and don’t insult other people’s food choices! But when it comes to ethics, young humans can get even more passionate. Once your nine-year-old realizes how we raise most pigs, cows, and chickens, they may feel compelled to point that out, and you might suddenly become the pariah of the PTA.

Another part of this discussion: How do you raise a joyful eater? After all, shouldn’t that be part of raising a climate-smart kid? Food is one of the greatest sources of happiness, harmony, sharing, and pleasure that we have as a species. No matter where you are from, food is a core part of belonging, identity, and family. One of the main reasons I got interested in food systems change is because I enjoy food so much. It’s important to me that my kids feel all these positive things about the ritual of eating. How can we do so on a burning planet? How do you communicate positively about eating while also talking about all the ways our food systems are at risk?

On that note, can you raise joyful eaters without raising cooks? What does that look like? In an age where cooking at home is becoming less and less common, how important is it for your kids to know how to make their own dinner? And what about growing food? Does that need to be part of raising a climate-smart eater? What if you live in a city, far away from any farmland? How do you model this type of behavior?

In upcoming issues, I will tackle all the different lenses through which I am looking at how to answer all of the above and aim to offer helpful, tangible suggestions for parents on this journey. Onwards!

Community-Crowdsourced Holiday Recipes

Curated by Sonalie Figueiras

Over the next couple of months, we’re going to be sharing easy, climate-smart holiday recipes and ideas with you to take some of the stress out of the festive season. The criteria for our choices: are simple, pantry-friendly, delicious, and ripe for substitutions.

Butternut Squash with Sage

Submitted by a Climate Kitchen reader in Atlantic City, New Jersey

10 Winning Winter Dishes from Nigel Slater

As my cooking-obsessed mother says (and she would know), Nigel Slater’s recipes just work. This list of 10 of his best veggie dishes is great — I especially recommend the Chickpea macaroni (a good option for the kids’ table at any holiday gathering) and the Roast spiced winter roots, haricot mash if you are looking for sides ideas. I can’t wait to try the Sweet potato and kimchi cakes as an appetizer. 

Dressed-Up Mash Tips

Everyone loves a good mashed potato, most kids included, and it’s a relatively easy dish to make (we make them creamy with olive oil and oat cream) but here are some LOW-EFFORT ways to make them more exciting and gastronomically forward (note: feel free to do all three):

• Add a root vegetable for extra earthiness: swedes, pumpkin, or turnips (cook with your potatoes)

• Add a crisp or stone fruit for some tartness and texture: apples, pears, or peaches (cook with your potatoes)

• add 1 tbsp of your favorite chili crisp/crunch to really wow guests (do half with and half without for kiddos.

Our Favorite Reads

Curated by Sophie Egan

In every issue, we’ll share 3-5 good reads— think: the best climate-smart shopping/eating/nutrition advice and thought-provoking essays.

• “Tips to Reduce Wasted Food During the Holidays” Reducing household food waste is one of the most impactful things you can do to be a more climate-friendly family—not to mention, save money (on average $1,500 per year per household). Holiday eating is all about abundance and indulgence, however; veering away from our daily habits, and gathering with family and friends of all ages. That trifecta turns out to be a recipe for a whole lot of wasted food: over 300 million pounds in the U.S. on Thanksgiving alone, equivalent to $556 million worth of groceries down the drain. Thankfully, the food waste nonprofit ReFED has practical tips. They also point out that just two foods–turkey and milk–account for nearly 58 percent of that Thanksgiving waste. So I’ll add this bonus tip: Not all food waste is created equal, so focus your time and energy on reducing waste of the foods with the highest environmental footprints (e.g., meat and dairy). 

• “Throw Out Your Black Plastic Spatula” When coming across news headlines like this, it can be tempting to dismiss them as fear-mongering. (Riiight, my evil spatula is leaching cancerous toxins into my food…) But in the case of ditching your plastic kitchen utensils, and especially black plastic, it comes down to: You may as well. As the Atlantic writer notes, it’s a “low-stakes move, and worth it.” PS: Our co-founder Sonalie — who runs a startup dedicated to helping businesses get rid of plastic from their supply chain and has spent years knee-deep in research on this topic — says the article is far from exaggerating. Wherever possible, it really is in our families’ best interests to decrease the amount of plastic around our food. Plus, at least five readers forwarded this to us, so the piece has clearly made an impression.

• ”Can Food Actually be Medicine, and If so, Who Stands to Benefit Most?” (A smartly nuanced take on a hot topic–nutrition edition.) It’s been exciting to see “food is medicine” get so much buzz in the past few years. But you’re not alone if you’re wondering whether it’s overhyped. As with many topics of food and health or food and climate, it’s complicated. Registered dietitian Carrie Dennett deftly explains what the science really shows, including meaningful health benefits in many cases for both kids and grown-ups. She cautions on taking food is medicine too far–”an unhealthy obsession with healthful eating, which can cause anxiety and social isolation.” Her bottom line points back to one of Climate Kitchen’s guiding principles: don’t let perfect be the enemy of good. 

• “Regenerative Agriculture is Sold as a Climate Solution. Can It Do All It Says?” (A smartly nuanced take on a hot topic–environment edition.) Between “food is medicine” and “regenerative agriculture,” it’s a toss-up which phrase wins food buzzword of the year. Whether you’re already buying products in the grocery store labeled “regenerative” or have merely heard the term in passing, you might be wondering: What should I make of it? This NPR analysis separates the hopes and dreams from the facts, what we know and what we don’t yet know based on the science, and ultimately concludes that regenerative ag is definitely worth doing, even if it’s not a cure-all for the climate crisis. The upsides range from better soil health and reduced water pollution to greater resilience for farmers amid a changing climate.