We Are What We Eat

A serving of fish and chips: 1.1kg. A bowl of salad: 0.2–0.5kg. Haggis: 3.4kg. Clearly, these numbers don't refer to the weight of each dish. In October, the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) was held in Glasgow. These numbers, which were printed on the menu at the Conference's food court, indicate the “carbon footprint” — that is, the total amount of carbon emitted throughout the production and procurement process — of each food item.

When we hear the word “emissions,” we tend to think of coal-fired power plants or vehicle exhausts. In fact, transportation is also an inextricable part of how food reaches us, touching everything from the cultivation and production of foodstuffs to their distribution. Even after reaching the retail stage, where they've been purchased by the end user at the market or stall, further emissions will be generated before the food is taken home, prepared, and made ready to eat. Thus, carbon emissions have become an inevitable byproduct of food consumption in modern life.
COP26 was motivated by the need to bring world leaders together so that they could agree on cutting back emissions to curb climate change. As such, the new information on carbon footprints was deemed as relevant for decision-making as the serving size, taste, and price of each item on the menu. While some of the items on the menu were criticised for running counter to the goal of reducing emissions, they may have been intentionally included by the event's organisers as a clever means of raising awareness about the sustainability concerns associated with popular everyday food items. How, then, can we cut back emissions through our food consumption practices?

Sustainable Practice Number One
- Organic Diets

Over the course of the global pandemic, well-being and health-minded food culture has emerged as a major topic of interest, even more so than previously. This is because major differences in the progression of COVID-19 were observed between those who had and hadn't kept themselves free of underlying conditions through meticulous attention to health. Thus, boosting everyday immunity has come to be known as one of the best ways to maintain preparedness amid the pandemic. Out of the many methods for boosting immunity, one of the easiest to put into practice is to consume fresh, organic food. Organic foods — a term referring to foods that have not been treated with chemical fertilisers during production or artificial preservatives during distribution — are widely known to positively affect both health and the environment. By minimally impacting the soil, organic cultivation methods help strengthen the sustainability of farmlands. Meanwhile, the lack of preservatives means that organic foods cannot be transported over long distances. In turn, such shorter distances translate into lower greenhouse gas emissions. Another advantage of organic food is that shorter distribution times eliminate the need to account for postharvest ripening, meaning that they can be harvested and enjoyed precisely when they have reached peak condition in terms of taste and nutrition.

Sustainable Practice Number Two
- Maintaining Freshness

While it would be ideal to make daily purchases of organic food ingredients in amounts that will be consumed immediately, such items may be harder to come by compared to generic food ingredients. This makes the matter of storage — and how to maintain freshness for longer periods — an important one. This also means that users must bear in mind something that is often overlooked: how to properly use a refrigerator.

Contrary to popular belief, the temperature setting on most refrigerators is often actually more of a desired temperature setting. Even when the temperature has been set to 2℃, for instance, the actual temperature may hover somewhere within the 0–4℃ range. Such fluctuating temperatures can make foods more prone to perishing. The Linear Cooling™ technology in LG SIGNATURE refrigerators maintains optimal temperatures by minimising variability to within ±0.5℃, helping food stay fresher, longer.
Another factor that can lead to loss of freshness is user behavior. Some users leave the refrigerator door open for too long or open the door more often than needed. This causes an influx of outside air, again contributing to temperature fluctuations. However, this is not an issue for users of the LG SIGNATURE refrigerator. Equipped with InstaView™ technology, LG SIGNATURE refrigerators users can browse the contents of their fridge simply by knocking twice on the panel, without having to open a door. This feature not only prevents unnecessary loss of cooled air, but also saves electricity.

The Problem with Food Waste

A study by the UN Environment Program has found that approximately 17% of all food produced in the world went to waste in 2019 (UNEP Food Waste Index Report 2021). This is equivalent to almost a billion tons of food waste per year. Furthermore, about 8% of all greenhouse gas emissions originate from food waste. If food waste were a country, it would be the third largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world. Considering the fact that not all food waste could be accounted for in the statistics, the true figure is likely to be even larger.

Food waste, with all its negative impacts on the environment, arises because we produce more food than needed while also failing to properly store the resulting surplus. Careless practices, such as casual lack of interest in how we store food ingredients and haphazardly purchasing needlessly large amounts of food, have resulted in ever higher levels of greenhouse gases throughout the planet.

Making a habit of maintaining a food ingredient shopping list and planning purchases accordingly can help us keep better track of our diet while also pushing us to manage our refrigerators more efficiently; a plus for our health as well as the environment. The AI ThinQ feature of the LG SIGNATURE refrigerator not only monitors stored contents in real time, but also draws up cooking recommendations based on available ingredients and alerts users when ingredients are running low. All these functions let the user manage food ingredients in a more efficient manner, thus helping cut back on food waste.

In 1825, French lawyer and famed gourmand Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin said, "Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are." If we rephrase this aphorism from the perspective of someone living in 2021, we could say that someone's diet is indicative of that person's values and identity. The three key concepts discussed above — organic diets, maintaining freshness, and prudent purchase habits — can serve as guides for anyone who cares about both their health and the environment.

Likewise, looking at a company's products can tell us much about that company’s values. LG SIGNATURE has worked tirelessly to explore the essential purpose of refrigerators, maintaining the freshness of stored food ingredients, and honed its technological expertise in pursuit of this goal. Furthermore, by introducing new features for greater user convenience and meticulously manufacturing its products in the spirit of craftsmanship, LG SIGNATURE offers amazing products that users cannot imagine their lives without. All these aspects ensure LG SIGNATURE's staying power as a sustainability-minded brand.