50 Ways to Eat Green

The Bon Appétit Guide to Cooking Up a Greener World

By Hugh Garvey

Photography by Craig Cutler and Kana Okada

January 2009

If only eating green were as simple as going to a farmers' market, buying organic, and reusing that shopping tote at the grocery store. That's a darn good start, but there are so many other ways to shop, cook, dine out, and even clean that can have a more meaningful impact on our environment. The 50 tips and recipes here will help cut down on landfill, pesticide use, overfishing, and the consumption of fossil fuels. They will also slow down the depletion of the ozone layer, encourage the humane treatment of livestock, improve the welfare of workers, reduce toxic chemicals in your home, and likely make you healthier along the way. Plus, you'll be making and eating some amazing food. (Like an environmentally friendly Bison Burger, pictured right.) Read on to learn how to cook up a greener, more delicious future.

1. Eat More Chocolate
2. Boil Once, Cook Twice
3. Fill up Your Freezer
4. Don't Read the Omnivore's Dilemma
5. Make a Bison Burger (pictured)
6. Ask Your Farmer These Questions
7. Don't Open That Door
8. Buy a Side of Beef
9. Cook More Often
10. Roast a Whole Chicken
11. Become a Human Food Processor
12. Eat Alaskan Wild Salmon
13. Savor Sardines
14. Get the Scoop
15. Plant an Heirloom Vegetable Garden
16. Learn How to Read a Carrot...
17. Buy Barramundi
18. Be Your Own Barista
19. Treasure Your Trash
20. Make Stocks
21. Make Your Own Cereal
22. Join a CSA
23. Eat American Cheese
24. Text Fishphone
25. Veg Out
26. Turn Off the Lights
27. Clean Green
28. Start Composting Tonight
29. Eat Grass-Fed Beef
30. Become an Urban Forager
31. Eat Sustainable Shrimp
32. Eat Free Food
33. Get Blasted
34. Eat Sustainable Sushi
35. Become a Locavore
36. Bike to the Market
37. Support Your Local Green Restaurant
38. Go Bento
39. Eat More Tofu
40. Stop Whistling
41. Use Your Dishwasher
42. Bag It
43. Mix Your Drinks
44. Take the Leftovers
45. Pack Your Own Lunch
46. Support Your Local Winemaker
47. Read Fritz Haeg's Edible Estates
48. Keep the Greens
49. Plan Your Paper Use
50. Recycle Bon Appétit

Source: Bon Appétit