Let’s Celebrate Sustainable Gastronomic Day, It’s June 18
Image Credit: Sustainable Foods (Image courtesy: Pexels)

Every year on June 18th, the world celebrates Sustainable Gastronomy Day. The goal of this day is to raise awareness of the behaviors related with sustainable food consumption, particularly the art of gathering and preparing food. For the uninitiated, gastronomy refers to local cuisine and food. It can also be used to define a particular region's cooking technique. As a result, sustainable gastronomy refers to cuisine that considers where the ingredients come from, how they are cultivated, and how the food gets to the markets and, ultimately, our plates.  The three dimensions of sustainable development—people, planet, and profit—are all considered in the celebrations of this important day. 

The day was declared Sustainable Gastronomy Day by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on December 21, 2016, when the UNGA adopted resolution A/RES/71/246 declaring June 18 as Sustainable Gastronomy Day. Every year, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) collaborate to ensure that the day is properly commemorated all around the world. The organizations collaborate with global and regional agencies to commemorate the day in order to make it memorable. They also educate the public about the relationship between sustainable gastronomy and sustainable development. Sustainable gastronomy promotes agricultural development, nutrition, food security, biodiversity conservation, and sustainable food production, and the two concepts are linked. 

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What is the best way to commemorate this day? 

Shop Wisely: Don't purchase more food than you require. Preventing food waste is one of the simplest and most effective ways to save money while also reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and conserving natural resources and so lowering your climate change footprint. Hence, promoting sustainable gastronomy.

Shop Local: Green vegetables, fruits, and other things should be purchased from a local store, as many of them support sustainable agriculture practices. While it is clear that not everyone can become a subsistence farmer and that agriculture must supply increasing amounts of food to growing populations at low prices, it is also evident that it cannot be done in the highly industrialized and environmentally damaging way that it has been in recent decades. Unlike intensive agriculture, sustainable farming has a lot of promise for environmental benefits and natural resource preservation. It accomplishes this by following natural cycles, recycling nutrients and water, and avoiding the use of agricultural chemicals to an excessive degree. 

Store Right: When it comes to vegetables, always keep an eye on what you have in the refrigerator and consume it before it goes bad. Food waste is a huge problem as a result of improper storage. An effective technique to decrease food spoiling is to separate foods in the refrigerator that create more ethylene gas (like bananas, avocados, tomatoes, peaches, green onions,  etc) from those that do not. Ethylene accelerates the ripening of foods, which can lead to deterioration. 

Plant-based Meat: Reduce the amount of meat you eat. Plant-based meats are typically thought to be more environmentally friendly than meat and animal products, and vegan and vegetarian diets are sometimes referred to as sustainable. 

Avoid Food Wastage: Avoid Food waste should be avoided. Reducing food waste benefits individuals, and the environment in multiple ways. It enhances food security, addresses global issues such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution, and eases the pressure on waste management systems. By 2030, the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aim to reduce food waste by half. Let's contribute to it!