Tastet Goes Green : 10 eco-friendly resolutions to adopt today

Tastet Goes Green : 10 eco-friendly resolutions to adopt today

Our planet is burning all around us, literally, and we just cannot turn a blind eye for one moment longer. The health of our planet is in dire straights, and the situation will only become more critical with each day that passes. As a new natural disaster seems to arrive every week, it is our responsibility to play a part in creating a more environmentally conscious community.

With the new year already well underway, we encourage you to adopt some environmentally focused resolutions before you run out of that new-decade-zeal. Although some of the resolutions on this list seem minuet, we strongly believe that each small action has an impact, especially when they are being mobilized throughout an entire community. We also recognize that everyone’s lifestyles are different, so it is up to each individual to commit to the resolutions that work for them (emphasis on the word commit). 

As the gateway into the new decade, there is no better time to implement a change than in 2020, whether it’s big or small. For us at Tastet, our food-consumption habits are the best place to start!  Here’s the “Tastet Goes Green” M.O : 

1. Consume local. It can’t be stressed enough, focussing our consumption on local and seasonal products plays a fundamental role in keeping our kitchens as green as possible. Therefore, we try to favour local businesses and restaurants that make an effort to promote local producers whenever we can! 
2. Compost, compost, compost. More than ever, we should be giving back to nature what it has given to us. For more information on composting by the City of Montreal, click here.
3. We’ve been looking into ways to sign up for seasonal food basket programs. They help increase our consumption of local and seasonal fruits and veggies, and minimize the ecological cost of international food transportation. 
4. Get into the habit of using reusable bags for grocery shopping and say no to plastic bags systematically.
5. Reduce car travel and promote public transit, carpooling and self-service car systems such as Communauto. Whenever we’re going to food photo shoots with the wonderful Alison Slattery, we commit to using self-service car companies to get around town. As a bonus, any time you buy something from our online shop, it will be one of our team members to brave the cold winter winds and make the delivery in person by bike or public transit, directly to the address of your choice.
6. If you ever end up with leftovers on a future night out at a restaurant, make sure to have your own reusable Tupperware on hand in order to avoid having to use a styrofoam takeout box. This also reduces food waste, and will save you from having to make your lunch the next day – we love doing this. 
7. The same goes for to-go coffees. We hardly need to mention the infamous 3pm slump that hits every afternoon, only curable with another cup of coffee or a snack. If you know what we’re talking about, don’t forget to bring your favourite reusable mug to work to avoid having to use a single-use cup for your mid-day pick-me-up. 
8. We like to clean out our inboxes and get rid of all the spam that needlessly burdens our servers. We suggest the “Cleanfox” application, which helps sort through the junk quickly and efficiently. We also recommend unsubscribing from all the newsletters that have been sitting in our mailboxes for years only to stay forever unopened. (But you can keep ours!)
9. Donate to charities. Right now, every time you make a purchase on our online store, you have the opportunity to donate $1 to a variety of charities that are helping to fight the detrimental forest fires in Australia.
10. We’ve saved the best for last: reduce your binge watching on Netflix. And, believe us, we know how hard this is…

We know that we’re only a guide to Montreal’s food scene, but we still want to implement green-philosophies into our work as much as possible. For this reason, we make an effort to highlight addresses that use local ingredients as much as possible. We also make a point of talking about the restaurants that put eco-responsibility at the forefront of their mission as often as we can. 

We may not be perfect, but we are trying our best to do what we can, because we believe that all big changes start with small steps. We promise that as we expand into more cities, we will stay committed to making a difference wherever we go, made easier by our devoted and conscientious readers! As Tastet goes green, more and more every day, we hope that you will join the journey with us.

What would happen if we all agreed to make 2020 the year where we thought a little less about convenience, and a little more about the future of the planet we live on? We are wishing everyone a happy, healthy and greener year. We want a long future on this planet, and to continue to enjoy all of the incredible things that it has to offer in a respectful and responsible way. 

If you would like to learn more, we have prepared a list of the best eco-responsible restaurants in Montreal. 

Don’t hesitate to share your eco-friendly resolutions with us so that we can all work to build a greener future together!

– Team Tastet

Written by Sydney Carter