Sustainable gastronomy; power and energy use in food - is it possible to fight climate change through cookery?

This paper explores and establishes the concept of how power (energy) is used and embodied in food and cookery. It then examines how different types of cookery methods use different amounts of power, and thus cooking the same food using different methods can have different environmental impacts. It then investigates the history of “sustainable cookery”, performing a comprehensive review of historic cookbooks to highlight 23 key texts. These range from Frances Moore Lappé’s “Diet for a Small Planet” (1971), through to contemporary texts such as Diana Henry’s “Plenty: good, uncomplicated food for the sustainable kitchen” (2010), or the 4 books of the American Academy in Rome’s Sustainable Food Project (2011). These texts will be used to examine how concepts of sustainability have evolved over time.