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Sustainable Gastronomy Day

Imagine a day dedicated to celebrating the art and science of food, where every bite is a step towards a healthier planet. That’s what Sustainable Gastronomy Day is all about.

Countries & Cultures Food & Drink Nature & Environment62

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Position your brand as a champion of sustainable food systems by showcasing local sourcing, plant-forward recipes, and zero-waste cooking practices on June 18.

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Farm-to-table recipe series featuring local ingredients and root-to-stem cooking techniques
Behind-the-scenes stories of small food producers and sustainable farming practices
Plant-based meal prep guides and budget-friendly plant-forward recipe collections
Food waste reduction challenges encouraging customers to repurpose kitchen scraps into gourmet dishes

History

The story of Sustainable Gastronomy Day begins with a growing global awareness that food systems sit at the center of many modern challenges. Hunger and malnutrition exist alongside food waste. Biodiversity is threatened by habitat loss and the spread of monocultures.

Climate change affects harvests, and agriculture itself contributes to greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, food remains one of humanity’s greatest joys and one of its most enduring cultural languages.

In response to this larger picture, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed an International Day of Sustainable Gastronomy through a resolution adopted in December 2016, designating June 18 as the annual date of observance.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, along with other partners across the UN system and beyond, has helped promote the day’s message: everyone has a role in making sustainable choices for healthy diets and more resilient food systems.

The choice to focus on “gastronomy” is telling. The day is not only about farming techniques or environmental policy, even though those are important. It also recognizes cooking, eating, and food culture as powerful levers for change.

Chefs and food professionals influence what people crave and what restaurants decide to buy. Home cooks influence household habits, family health, and the next generation’s sense of what “normal food” looks like. When culinary creativity is aimed at seasonal ingredients, diverse crops, and low-waste techniques, sustainability becomes inviting rather than intimidating.

Another key idea in the day’s creation is that sustainable development is interconnected. A plate of food can touch multiple goals at once: nutrition, livelihoods, resource conservation, cultural heritage, and responsible consumption.

Sustainable Gastronomy Day encourages individuals, organizations, and communities to explore that intersection in a hands-on way. It’s a rare kind of observance that can be both philosophical and delicious at the same time.

Over time, the day has grown into a broader conversation that includes youth-led initiatives, chef networks, and community programs focused on better food systems.

Many celebrations highlight themes like “more taste, less waste,” emphasizing that reducing waste does not mean reducing pleasure. It can mean better planning, better storage, better cooking skills, and a new appreciation for ingredients that are often overlooked.

Ultimately, Sustainable Gastronomy Day responsibly connects people with the earth and its bounty. It celebrates farming and fishing methods that respect nature, spotlights traditional knowledge that stretches ingredients further, and encourages the kind of everyday decision-making that adds up across millions of kitchens.

The message is both practical and hopeful: sustainable eating is not a distant ideal reserved for experts. It is something that can be practiced one meal at a time, with curiosity, care, and a willingness to try something new.

How to celebrate

Cook with Local Ingredients

Visit a farmers’ market, farm stand, food co-op, or neighborhood grocer that carries regional produce. Local food often travels fewer miles, but the benefits go beyond transportation. Buying locally can help keep small farms viable, preserve regional crop varieties, and connect eaters with the seasons. A simple way to start is to build one meal around a “local centerpiece,” such as tomatoes, corn, leafy greens, eggs, or a regional cheese, then let everything else play a supporting role.

Try a Plant-based Recipe

Prepare a meal entirely from plant-based sources, or simply make plants the star and treat animal products as an accent. Beans, lentils, chickpeas, and peas are famously versatile, and they pair well with grains and vegetables for meals that are both filling and budget-friendly. Plant-forward cooking can also be a playground for flavor: roasted vegetables, toasted spices, citrus, herbs, and crunchy toppings make it feel like a feast rather than a compromise.

Learn About Food Waste Reduction

Get creative with food that might otherwise be tossed. “Root-to-stem” cooking uses more of each vegetable, like blending broccoli stems into soup or sautéing beet greens with garlic. Leftover rice becomes fried rice; day-old bread becomes croutons or bread pudding; citrus peels become zest or infused sugar. Sustainability points add up quickly when a kitchen treats scraps as ingredients-in-waiting.

Support Small Food Producers

Buy from small-scale farmers, fishers, and artisan producers when possible. Beyond the feel-good factor, this supports diverse local economies and can encourage production methods that are more transparent and community-oriented. It can also introduce new flavors: a locally milled flour, a small-batch hot sauce, honey with a distinct floral note, or a seasonal fruit jam that tastes like the month it was made.

Explore Traditional Cooking

Prepare a traditional dish from one’s own community or learn one from another culture with care and curiosity. Traditional cuisines often developed around seasonal availability and clever preservation techniques like pickling, drying, fermenting, and slow-cooking tough cuts. Many of these methods are naturally resource-savvy. Fermented foods, for example, can extend shelf life and reduce spoilage while adding depth and nutrition.

Educate Yourself and Others

Set aside time to learn about sustainable food practices, whether through cookbooks, podcasts, documentaries, or community workshops. Sharing what’s learned can be practical rather than preachy: swap a favorite recipe, talk about a new storage trick that keeps herbs fresh longer, or host a meal where each dish comes with a short “ingredient story” about where it came from and why that choice mattered.

Start a Herb Garden

Grow herbs in pots, a windowsill planter, or a small outdoor patch. Herbs are a gateway to sustainable cooking because they reduce packaging, cut down on food waste (no more half-used plastic clamshells wilting in the fridge), and make simple dishes taste restaurant-level. Starting with hardy herbs like rosemary, mint, thyme, or chives makes success more likely, even for beginners. Sustainable Gastronomy Day can also be celebrated with a few extra, highly doable twists that fit almost any kitchen: Cook seasonally on purpose. Choose one seasonal ingredient and build a menu around it, even if it’s just a snack and a drink. Seasonal cooking tends to be fresher, often less resource-intensive, and it keeps meals from feeling repetitive.Run a “fridge audit” challenge. Plan a meal that uses what is already on hand before buying anything new. This turns “random leftovers” into a fun puzzle instead of a guilt trip.Practice mindful portions. Serving smaller portions first and offering seconds cuts down on plate waste without leaving anyone hungry.Choose better packaging. Bring reusable bags or containers for shopping, choose loose produce when available, and favor products with minimal or recyclable packaging.If seafood is on the menu, buy thoughtfully. Overfishing and habitat damage are real concerns, and sustainable sourcing helps. When possible, look for trusted third-party eco-labels available in a given market, or ask a fishmonger about species and catch methods.

FAQ

Is sustainable eating always more expensive?

Sustainable eating is not automatically more expensive. While some items, such as specialty organics or eco‑labels, can cost more, many core sustainable habits can lower household food bills, including planning meals to avoid waste, cooking at home, choosing seasonal produce, and using affordable plant-based proteins like beans, lentils, and grains instead of large portions of meat.

Does eating local food automatically have a lower environmental footprint?

Eating local can reduce transport emissions, but distance is only one part of a food’s footprint. How food is produced, stored, and processed usually matters more than how far it travels. For example, a local product grown in heated greenhouses or with intensive inputs can have a higher impact than an imported product grown in its natural season and shipped efficiently. [1]

Do sustainable diets require giving up all animal products?

Most scientific and policy guidance on sustainable diets recommends shifting toward more plant-based, plant‑forward eating patterns, especially in high-consuming populations, rather than eliminating all animal products. In some contexts, modest amounts of sustainably raised animal‑source foods can support nutrition and livelihoods, so the emphasis is typically on balance, diversity, and lower overall resource use rather than strict exclusion. [1]

What is the difference between “sustainable gastronomy” and “sustainable diets”?

Sustainable gastronomy usually focuses on how chefs, restaurants, and cooks source, prepare, and serve food in ways that respect the environment, culture, and local economies. Sustainable diets are defined more broadly as dietary patterns that promote health, have low environmental impact, are culturally acceptable, and are economically fair and affordable. In practice, sustainable gastronomy is one way of putting sustainable diet principles into action in kitchens and food businesses.

How does food waste at home affect the climate?

Food that is bought but not eaten still carries the emissions from growing, processing, and transporting it, and wasting it means those resources were used for no benefit. Globally, food loss and waste across the supply chain are estimated to account for about 8 to 10 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions, with households responsible for the largest share of waste at the consumption stage. Reducing waste at home is therefore a practical way to cut a household’s climate footprint. [1]

Is “organic” the same thing as “sustainable” in food and cooking?

Organic certification focuses on specific farming practices, such as limits on synthetic pesticides and fertilizers, but it does not by itself guarantee low climate impact, minimal waste, or fair labor conditions. A sustainable approach to food and cooking looks at a wider picture that includes environmental effects, nutrition, cultural traditions, food waste, and social and economic factors. Organic food can be part of sustainable gastronomy, but non‑organic foods that are seasonal, minimally wasted, and responsibly produced can also be sustainable choices.

Which changes in everyday eating habits make the biggest sustainability difference?

Evidence suggests that the most impactful shifts combine eating more plant-based foods, wasting less food, and choosing foods produced with lower environmental footprints. Moving from meat-heavy diets toward plant‑rich meals, planning and storing food to cut household waste, and favoring seasonal and efficiently produced foods together can significantly reduce land use, water use, and greenhouse gas emissions while supporting healthier diets.