One Planet Plate

By Julie Woods

I'm very excited about a new food sustainability initiative I helped launch recently in Singapore. I represent the “One Planet Plate” campaign here which was first unveiled in Singapore and soon to expand around the world.

Did you know that the food industry contributes more than a quarter of global greenhouse emissions? And that more than 75% of global freshwater and ocean pollution is caused by agriculture? If you eat food, you’re part of the system and your actions have an impact.

So, what can we as individuals do? Well, we can all make our contribution. The food we choose to eat – where it comes from, how it was grown, and how it gets to our plate – all play a huge role. Eating local and seasonal produce, switching to plant-based alternatives, and avoiding unsustainable fishing are among the are many ways we can make a positive impact through our food choices.

One Planet Plate is driven by Food Made Good – part of the Sustainable Restaurant Association – which supports the F&B and food retail sector to anticipate and act on current and future challenges. Food Made Good raises awareness about the inherent problems in our food system and makes more sustainable (and delicious) alternatives popular.

And we’re not talking scrambled tofu or vegetarian sausages! One Planet Plate has over 2,000 participating venues, including 31 of The World’s 50 Best Restaurants. And more are joining all the time!

Proudly presented by HSBC, One Planet Plate aims to serve five million sustainable meals in 2022. Its Singapore partners range from fastservice eateries such as Quick Greens’ vegan outlets (popping up soon in Cold Storage supermarkets around town) to Michelin-starred restaurants such as Les Amis.

Other great local restaurants on our island backing this campaign include Salted & Hung, Terra Madre, and Open Farm Community. You can find all these restaurants on the campaign’s website and Instagram, and choose to match your budget, favorite cuisine, and location.

You’ll also find sustainable recipes submitted by One Planet Plate restaurants worldwide. These feature videos of top chefs demonstrating how to prepare the dishes, enabling enthusiastic home cooks to prepare their own world-class meals from scratch!

Highlights include chefs Dave Pynt of Burnt Ends with his Grilled Leek with Hazelnut and Brown Butter; Angela May of Quick Greens with a Laksa Lah Wrap; Oliver Truesdale-Jutras of Open Farm Community with a Grilled Eggplant Salad; and Gayatri Singh of Terra Madre with a Roasted Cauliflower Salad. How good do these dishes sound?

Also, feel free to ask your fave local food joints to join the campaign and submit a dish via the One Planet Plate website. It’s free, they’ll get great media coverage, and they can help support this wonderful initiative.

One Planet Plate helps support the Singapore Green Plan. This includes becoming a “Zero Waste Nation” with the “30 by 30” campaign that aims for 30% of our food to be produced locally and sustainably by 2030.

Less than 1% of the land here is available for food production, so Singapore is now encouraging vertical and roof farming and developing a new high-tech agri-food zone. These initiatives increasingly allow Singapore chefs and home cooks to source ever more locally-grown fish, eggs, and vegetables.

We can all do our bit to reduce the environmental damage caused by food production while discovering new and delicious dishes along the way!