The carrot and beetroot pakora with yoghurt sauce is responsible for just 16g of CO2 emissions. The aubergines with a miso and harissa sauce with tabbouleh and Zaatar toast caused 675g of carbon dioxide.
As customers weigh their options, the menu at the vegetarian restaurant in Bristol includes a comparison with a dish that it does not serve: the emissions from a UK-produced hamburger.
“Three kilos for a burger, wow! I can’t believe it,” exclaimed Enyioma Anomelechi, a 37-year-old diner sipping a beer outside in the sunshine.
The menu notes that a real beef burger’s emissions is “10 times the amount of its vegan alternative”.
The carbon footprints of businesses and consumers have come under growing scrutiny as countries scramble to limit global temperature increases to 1.5°C and to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
Last month, The Canteen became the first restaurant to agree to put its carbon footprint on the menu under a campaign spearheaded by UK vegan campaigning charity Viva!.
The restaurant’s manager, Liam Stock, called the move a way to “see what we are doing; to understand and improve ourselves”.
The average British person has an annual carbon footprint of more than 10 tonnes, according to UK government figures. Britain has set the ambitious goal of reducing harmful emissions by 78% by 2035, compared with 1990 figures, in order to meet its international climate change commitments.
Whether diners will let carbon footprints influence their order choices remains to be seen, but Stock said the menu innovation has stoked interest and support.
“In England if you’re a big chain restaurant, it’s the law that you have to have calories on the menu,” he said. “But a lot of people are saying they’re more interested in carbon.”
‘Just want to enjoy’
While Anomelechi noted the “huge” difference in emissions between a hamburger and other dishes, he said he did not necessarily want to be burdened with knowing his order’s calorie count or carbon footprint.
“When I go out to eat, I just want to enjoy,” he added, noting he would be more inclined to change his ways while grocery shopping.
To calculate the dishes’ footprints, The Canteen sent its recipes and the source of the ingredients to a specialised company called MyEmissions.
It is able to calculate the carbon impact from “cradle to store”, taking into account farming, processing, transport and packaging.
“If I was choosing between two dishes, maybe depending on how hungry I was, I might choose the one with a lower footprint,” said Nathan Johnson, a 43-year-old diner at the restaurant.
That day, he opted for the chef’s salad, which racks up 162g of carbon.
Another diner, 29-year-old Emma Harvey, also backed the idea of increased awareness of carbon footprints “and the ethical effects of the food we’re eating”.
“We have to incorporate things like that into everyday life,” she said.