While people meet their needs with imported products, the vehicles used during the delivery of these products cause air pollution, and a lot of plastic waste is generated for packaging. On the other hand, the carbon footprint of local products is very low.
In order to produce vegetables and fruits out of season, chemicals, pesticides, or ripeners are needed, which increase water use and cause air, water, and soil pollution. Vegetables and fruits are collected in season, and dried, salted, vacuumed, etc. should be stored using appropriate methods.
Positive Impact of Local and Seasonal Nutrition: Consuming foods grown and harvested locally and in season helps the sustainability of the environment and also helps us consume more nutritious and delicious products.
Improved nutritional value, tastier food: Local and seasonal foods are fresher, tastier and have higher nutritional value because they are often picked when fully ripe.
Reduced environmental impact: Food transported long distances contributes to greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution. It also requires more energy to transport and store.
Support the local economy: Buying local and seasonal food supports local farmers and businesses and your economy.
Gastronomy reflects the culture, heritage, traditions and sense of community of different communities. To promote understanding between different cultures; It is a way of bringing people and traditions closer together.
Sustainability in gastronomy is the idea that something (e.g. agriculture, fishing or even food preparation) is done in a way that can be sustained into the future without wasting our natural resources and without harming the environment or our health.
In order to develop sustainable, economical and healthy recipes, the most common waste causes in the kitchen were investigated and evaluated in three groups.
1 – Recipes to use leftover food (For example: soup made from leftover rice pilaf, chickpea meatballs with leftover chickpea meal),
2 – Recipes for reusing stale and ripe foods (For example: stale bread dessert made from stale bread, pretzels made from stale white cheese),
3 – Recipes for waste recycling (e.g. vegetable soup from vegetable waste, potato chips from potato peelings)
An example recipe for using leftover food for the Cooking Workshop with Sustainable Recipes:
Chickpea Meatballs from Leftover Chickpeas
Preparation: Pulse the chickpeas leftover from the previous day in a food processor until they reach the consistency of puree. Mix parsley, dill, onion, garlic, and spices with chickpea puree thoroughly. Then, shape the resulting dough into the size of a walnut. Bake on a tray lined with baking paper in a preheated oven at 160 degrees for 15 minutes.