What Should COP25 Politicians Eat?
The inaugural lunch of COP25 that Pedro Sánchez offered to the heads of government and state was an opportunity to reflect on how a sustainable and effective diet can be against climate change.
At an international summit of the importance of COP25 you have to think about all the details. The food of the heads of state, ministers and officials is one of them. What should they eat?
The first answer that comes to mind is the menu that the tired citizens of Viterbo administered to the cardinals who were to elect Pope in 1272: after three years of discussions, they decided to lock them up and give them only bread and water until they lit the white smoke.
Black beans with collard greens for heads of government
“The reception menu of the leaders at COP25 should be vegan and local, with a mesclun salad, a spoon dish with legumes and grains, and a piece of fruit,” explains Jesún Pagan, from Foodtopia (Espinardo, Murcia) , an initiative whose objective is to revolutionize the restoration by building kitchens in the neighborhoods, equipped with efficient technologies, a culture of Km0 and without waste.
It would have been a delight to see the acting president Pedro Sánchez sharing with 50 heads of government, ministers and senior officials a comforting plate of pinto beans with collard greens, the kind that are sold at Foodtopia for 2.50 euros. The leaders would have tried a real solution to the food problem: food with local ingredients, organic and with low emissions. At Foodtopia they prepare 20,000 dishes like this every week that anyone can buy.
Pagan explains that our food is responsible for 50% of the emissions that cause global warming, consumes a third of the world’s energy and occupies 40% of the earth’s surface. Of every 1,000 euros that a Spanish family spends on food – he adds – only about 300 are actually used to pay for food; the rest goes to packaging, transport, sanitary expenses, etc.
The Roca brothers’ menu with a message for world leaders
The organization did not commission the menu for the inaugural lunch from Foodtopia, but from the renowned chefs and brothers Joan, Josep and Jordi Roca, who yesterday explained their menu to journalists and attendees at COP25. They assured that it is the most important menu they have prepared and the one that has most excited them.
Joan Roca explained that they have wanted to “tell the environmental problems through the dishes” and “make politicians think”. The chefs at El Celler are characterized by a gastronomic and technically sophisticated cuisine, but they have not missed the opportunity to offer a few messages that politicians had to swallow. His menu was called “The Earth is exhausted” and each dish alluded to a planetary environmental problem:
- The “Clear Water & Dirty Water” broth, with freeze-dried trumpets of death, truffle, boletus edulis and roasted chickpeas, addressed the global problem of water.
- In another dish they proposed eating invasive species, such as Opuntia ficus and blue crab.
- The “Sea and vegetable mountain” made with mousse of plankton, salicornia, algae, Gigartina pistillata, fennel, sea fennel, enoki, pumpkin seed, basil, sea lobularia and flowers included new, more sustainable foods to face the increase in temperature.
- Fermented foods from another dish (tempé, kimchi, Korean black garlic, Georgian pickles, Mexican chili peppers, Mediterranean garum, etc.) convey the message that preserving is better than wasting.
- They also proposed minimizing animal protein and increasing vegetable protein with a dish called “Bleeding Gaia” with beetroot, watermelon, red pepper and red onion.
- For dessert, fair trade cocoa beans and Kaduna tomato bonbon, as alternatives to monocultures that harm small farmers and indigenous communities,
- All washed down with waters, kombuchas, distillates and wines that have withstood the inclemency of the climate and the economy.
Giving up meat, an essential measure against climate change
Undoubtedly, the menu was delicious to the leaders, although there was no meat as is usual in this type of feast, one of the measures that scientists and activists propose to make humanity’s diet more sustainable.
Giving up meat is the main decision a citizen can make to fight climate change, as writer Jonathan Safran Foer explains in his latest book, We can save the world before dinner.
But the sophisticated dishes of the Roca family are far from what an ordinary citizen can afford on a day-to-day basis. Politicians’ egos have likely tiptoed through the messages and were pleased by such a display of delicacy and oddities.
