Grid has been writing about food since our beginning. It’s not just because we enjoy eating and thinking about what we’ll eat next, though we do. It’s because it matters.
It takes a lot of resources to produce the food we eat. More than half the land area of the United States is devoted to growing crops and grazing livestock, according to the USDA. Irrigation comes in second on the list of water uses according to the U.S. Geological Survey, and agriculture is responsible for 10% of our country’s greenhouse gas emissions, based on EPA figures. Out in the oceans, 90% of the world’s fisheries are maxed out or overfished according to the World Bank. The impact continues through the food supply chain, with more than a third of our food (and the resources that went into it) wasted. Changing how we eat can change the world.
Your diet can be a DIY project, or you can learn from the professionals. In this issue we reach into the vault to share recipes you can cook at home. We also shine a spotlight on establishments old and new that can teach us a few things about sourcing food and cooking it, reducing food waste and rescuing the leftovers.
As we look forward to holiday feasts, we hope this issue inspires you to dine and cook better this season — and the entire year.
