Cooking Green: Reducing Your Carbon Footprint in the Kitchen--The New Green Basics Way [Paperback]

I've read several of Kate Heyhoe's previous books and was eagerly looking forward to this one. Kate Heyhoe's Cooking Green comes highly praised by some of the nation's top food environmentalists, and with good reason. There's a practical strategy on every page to "shrink your cookprint," and, she notes that by saving fuel and water you'll save money, too. Her sources are solid, and she draws on them to cover the entire food chain: EPA, USDA, Institute of Food Technologists, FDA, Michael Pollan, Harold McGee, U.S. Geological Survey (which measures land-water use), and the Department of Energy, to name a few.

For instance: Ovens waste as much as 94% of their fuel, according to the Department of Energy (worse fuel-efficiency than a Humvee). Solutions: scale back on oven-cooking, multitask your oven, and power down before the dish is done to make use of the residual heat (she starts her lasagna recipe in a cold oven and "passively" finishes it by turning off the heat 15 minutes early and leaving the door closed; her recipe is great and shows how to adapt others to the same fuel-saving process). Or, use your cooktop or toaster oven instead of a full oven. Avoiding beef drastically shrinks your cookprint, but if meat's your thing, her her rare roast beef recipe uses 20 minutes of high heat, then passively roasts for an hour with the fuel turned off (traditional recipes use 2 hours of fuel).

Many cooks don't realize that with water, it takes nearly as much energy to jump from "almost boiling" to actual boiling, and that boiling water is the same temperature whether it's boiling fast or gently; so fast-boiling actually wastes fuel. And water takes a long time to cool down, so you can turn off the heat early and use slowly cooling water to gently cook lots of foods, including pasta, lentils, potatoes, green beans, and more. This saves fuel and cuts down on carbon emissions.

She also covers the entire "cookprint" by tackling topics that include avoiding BPA (it's in some bottles and most can liners, but good news: it's not in aseptic paperboard packages, like the ones used for chicken broth and tomatoes); which cookware and small appliances to buy; making perishables last longer so there's less waste and fewer grocery trips; and how to pick greener foods when local and organic aren't options.

This is a great book for anyone wanting to take control of their life and really make a difference. As the author says, going green is all about making choices, and this book is a good choice for anyone who eats.

If I had my way, every American cook would read Cooking Green--it's that important.

Our individual food choices--how we select and prepare our food, how we store it and dispose of the wastes--are part of what has become an enormous, life-changing global problem: global warming and climate destabilization, caused by human production of greenhouse gasses. Kate Heyhoe estimates that twelve percent of all these emissions result from growing (think fossil-fueled agriculture), packaging, transporting, and preparing our food. Over 7,000 tons of carbon dioxide per household per year is attributable to what and how we eat. Chew on that for a moment.

If we care (and we should) what can we do? Cooking Green is full of good ideas for reducing what Heyhoe calls our "cookprint," the environmental impact of every meal we eat. She starts by suggesting that we should think of ourselves as "ecovores," choosing and eating "foods that are raised and grown in harmony with the environment." This is more flexible and realistic than strict "locavore" practices, such as the 100-mile diet. It is more ambiguous as well, as she describes in a section called "The Ecovore's Dilemma." It means thinking, reading, evaluating, deliberating, for these are not easy matters, in an era when there are too many of us and we use too many limited natural resources.

Some of Heyhoe's ideas will challenge your idea of a home-cooked meal. Turn off that inefficient oven, she says ("ovens are the Humvees of the kitchen"), and plug in a toaster oven. Reconsider the cooktop, and opt for a greener flame, using more energy-efficient appliances and "passive" cooking practices. Adopt low-impact waste-disposal methods.

Shopping? Be mindful of the seasons, eat more plants and less (much, much less) industrially-farmed meat. Understand "organic," think field-to-fork, consider fair trade, check for sustainable sourcing, weigh the packaging. Eating out? Ditto all this, and look for restaurants that have gone "green."

Nobody said this was easy.

But Heyhoe is right: "The reversal of climate change requires a complete paradigm shift and global actions, in more than just food and cooking. But one thing leads to another. Little steps in behavior can make a big difference in how we think."

There are a few things to quibble with. To my mind, gardening is one of the most important ways we can contribute to our personal food supply, but Heyhoe dismisses this with "grow a few greens." Dishwashers consume more than just hot water (Heyhoe's only measure of efficiency), especially when you consider the resources and energy that goes into manufacturing, shipping, and marketing the appliance. My dishpan requires no electricity, and doesn't cost as much to make or market as a dishwasher.

But these are minor issues. I was challenged by this book to make important changes in what I thought were already careful food choices and cooking practices. You will be, too. But you have to start by reading it.

P.S. When you've read the book, check out the website: http://www.newgreenbasics.com. Lots more good stuff there.

by Susan Wittig Albert
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women

As a fan of newgreenbasics.com, I've been looking forward to this book. Kate Keyhoe is highly knowledgeable, and every time I dip into Cooking Green I learn something new. Example: Americans throw out 27 percent of all food available for consumption. So we can be more green, and save money, by lowering this percentage. It's highly readable and well organized too.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 12 reviews  4.3 out of 5 stars