What to know
- Sustainalicious runs from May 15 to June 14, featuring 35 Toronto restaurants serving climate-friendly, plant-based meals.
- The festival highlights the food industry’s environmental impact, which accounts for about 10 per cent of Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions.
- Organizers will track and publish the event’s total emissions savings, aiming to inspire long-term sustainable eating habits.
Who says you need to make drastic changes to support the environment? With this Toronto event, it can be as easy as enjoying a delicious meal.
Summer is coming up, but sunny afternoons, outside festivals, and patio meals are not the only things in the forecast. Following historic summer heat waves in recent years, global temperatures are expected to remain at a historic high this year, according to Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC).
When it comes to reducing emissions to tackle climate change, the impact of the food industry is often not discussed. But still, the impact is considerable, with Statistics Canada revealing that 10 per cent of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions come from crop and livestock production.
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Meanwhile, a new Toronto festival is inviting residents to do their part to combat climate change by doing nothing more than enjoying a delicious meal at some of the city’s favourite spots.
From May 15 to June 14, the Sustainalicious festival will descend upon the city for the first time. The event aims to reduce the environmental impact of the food industry by increasing access to plant-based foods.
During the event, local chefs of some of the city’s most popular spots will be serving up climate-smart and plant-based dishes. At the end of the month, Sustainalicious will publish a report highlighting the greenhouse gas savings by participants to assess the impact of the event.
Similar to Summerlicious and Winterlicious, the event will encourage people to engage in sustainable eating practices while also exploring different spots in the city. During its debut year, 35 Toronto favourites will be featured, including:
- PAI
- Afrobeat Kitchen
- Bar Avello
- Sushi Momo
- Bar Bacan
- Slab Burgers
- Ramen Ishin
- AM Bagel
The program is a collaboration between the Toronto Climate Week, an event uniting climate leaders to discuss global innovations, and Eat for Impact, an initiative that empowers cities to support climate-friendly food systems.
The event hopes to create long-lasting results, inspiring attendees to also make daily food choices that create a positive impact on the environment.
“Toronto is renowned for its culinary diversity and its leadership in sustainability, making this initiative a natural evolution for our city,” Becky Park-Romanovsky, founder and executive director of Toronto Climate Week, said in a statement shared with Now Toronto.
“We are committed to helping people discover that food can taste incredible while actively supporting the health of our planet.”
