Do you really know what’s for dinner?

The Blue Plate is the perfect dinner companion for food lovers who also care about the planet.

Ecologist Mark Easter offers a detailed picture of the impact the foods you love have on the earth. Organized by the ingredients of a typical dinner party, including seafood, salad, bread, chicken, steak, potatoes, and fruit pie with ice cream, each chapter examines the food through the lens of the climate crisis. Not a cookbook, but instead, gathered like guests around the table, you will find the stories of these foods: The soil that grew the lettuce; the farmers, ranchers and orchardists who steward the land; the grocers and workers at dairies and farms who labor to bring food to the table. Each chapter reveals the causes and effects of greenhouse gas emissions, as well as the social and environmental impacts of the demand for out-of-season and far-from-home foods.

What can you do to eat more sustainably? Food lovers everywhere will be happy to know that the answer is not necessarily a plant-based diet. For each food group, Easter offers not recipes but low-carbon, in-season alternatives that make your favorite foods not only more sustainable but also more delicious.

The first step, however, is an understanding of how food is grown, produced, harvested, and shipped. In stories both personal and entertaining, the author offers a full understanding of what’s for dinner.

About the Author

Mark Easter is an ecologist who has conducted research in academia and private industry since 1988. Easter authored and co-authored more than 50 scientific papers and reports related to carbon cycling and the carbon footprint of agriculture, forestry, and other land uses. He contributed analyses to multiple reports published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). In 2018 he was named a fellow of the Colorado State University School of Global Environmental Sustainability.

Besides his scientific work, Easter cofounded the organization Save The Poudre and is a founding board member of Save the Colorado. He works with these organizations to help restore rivers to healthy conditions and protect rivers from water development.

Foreword by Anthony Myint

Anthony Myint is an American restaurateur, chef, activist, author, and food consultant based in the Mission District in San Francisco, California. He is a founder of Mission Chinese Food, The Perennial, Mission Street Food, Mission Cantina, Mission Burger, Lt. Waffle, and Commonwealth Restaurant. He is a pioneer in the environmental and charitable restaurant movement.

About the Illustrator

An illustrator in ink and watercolour, Liam O'Farrell's clients include Tatler, Knight Frank LLP, The Times, Liberty London, Perspectives in Architecture, BBC Books, Macmillan, The Big Issue, One Housing Group, and Meed.

Specifications

Hardcover; 400 pages printed in full colour with over 80 photos throughout, plus charts and graphs; 6" X 9". Printed on 100% post-consumer recycled paper.

Published by Patagonia

Made in Canada.

Gift Ideas Under $50

The Blue Plate: A Food Lover's Guide to Climate Chaos (hardcover) BK910

Storm Care Eco Proofer Wash 225mL