Holiday’s carbon footprints: How polluting are our foods in this festive season?

As Romanians and foreigners living in Romania celebrate the most festive time of the year, water, energy, and livestock are facing higher demand than in other months of the year. It’s the month of culinary delight, but according to a December report by Our World in Data, it could also contribute to greenhouse gas emissions, of which 26% (13.7 billion tonnes) of them come from food.

“Sarmale,” Romanian traditional food consisting mainly of rice and pork, is a familiar sight in Romanian family dinners during the holiday season. 1 kilogram of minced pork meat and 150 to 200 grams of rice could potentially leave 13 kilograms of greenhouse gases in a carbon footprint.

“30% of food emissions come directly from livestock and fisheries. Ruminant livestock – mainly cattle – for example, produce methane through their digestive processes. Manure and pasture management, pasture management also fall into this category,” researchers Hannah Ritchie and Max Roser write.

At least 7.5 million traditional sweetbreads “cozonaci” have been made throughout the season for Romanian households, and 2 million of them have made their way to abroad communities. This sweetbread mainly consists of dairy products that could contribute massively to the emissions: at least 9.5 kg of CO₂eq could be generated from each 100-gr milk protein, and every kilogram of dark chocolate is responsible for at least 50 kg of greenhouse gases.

Despite popular belief, however, transport contributes less to the carbon footprint than food. The data shows that 60 kg of greenhouse gasses produced from every kilogram of beef are mostly emitted in the farm where cows produce methane, while transport accounts share the smallest rate.

(Photo source: Cristina Alexe | Dreamstime.com)