The Brighter Planet Blog

We ran the Mastering the Art of Sustainable Cooking contest up until Dec. 31st 2009 to give people everywhere the opportunity to share tips and experiences about reducing their environmental impact in the kitchen. We received entries with tips about how to approach leftovers, efficiently raid your pantry, how to choose more sustainable ingredients and more. We’re excited to announce the judges have voted, and the five overall winners are:

Menu and Dining Planning
Jeff Thorp from CA with his delicious plan for getting three meals for two out of one chicken (and you can get the recipes to try it yourself at his blog).

Food Sources
Bettina from Loulies in DC blew us away with a handful of fabulous tips and recipes. One of our favorites (and the judges, too!) is a guide for Getting to Know Your Farmer’s Market.

Ingredients
Thomas from MA shared gorgeous photos and inspiration from his winter garden. Yes you can reap a harvest year-round even in a cold climate.

Techniques
Dave in Florida knows how to increase a BBQ’s efficiency. You just have to learn one little secret…

Appliances, Gadgets, and Gizmos
Cynthia in CA had an awesome idea: create a gadget co-op and share rarely-used appliances and tools instead of piling them up in the back of a kitchen drawer.

These winners will receive Amazon Kindle DXs—predicted by the New York Times to slash the publishing industry’s environmental impact.

The judges chose these winners from the top 15 entries with the most votes on our website. The panel includes celebrated local food pioneer Alice Waters of Chez Panisse and Slow Food International; visionary environmental writer Bill McKibben of 350.org; sustainable entrepreneur Gary Hirshberg of Stonyfield Farms; food activist and anthropologist Amy Trubek; director and producer Ana Sofia Joanes of FRESH; EatingWell Magazine’s editorial director Lisa Gosselin; CEO Patti Prairie of Brighter Planet; and food television writer and producer Zachary Cohen of Farm to Table. Judges rated top-ranked entries based on eco-effectiveness and ability to inspire conservation in others.

Today also marks the release of our Mastering the Art of Sustainable Cooking Guide where we’ve compiled the top tips, stories and recipes from the contest for your benefit. Please enjoy it and spread it widely. The average American’s carbon footprint from food is as big as that of their car or their home, so food is a good place to reduce your climate impact. And if that wasn’t enough, we’ve also published a complimentary white paper for all you data-loving left brainers with an extensive analysis of the American carbon “foodprint.”

Thanks very much to our partners EatingWell Magazine, Guyot Designs
To-Go Ware, and Stonyfield Farms for donating food-related prizes to outstanding contestants.

As Gary Hirshberg said, “There is a connection between your health, healthy food and a healthy planet.” Cheers to that. We can all make choices in this arena and create heaps of benefits.

Bon appetit,
-Carolyn