footprint

Social media is awash with aesthetic snapshots of gourmet dishes, boozy brunches and easy-to-follow recipes. You may even come across pictures of bulk-prepped Tupperware meals, takeaway pizza, a meal deal from your local supermarket or simply a latte in a reusable cup – our obsession with food is clear.

With this love of all things food comes the ever-growing conversation of the environment, the reasons why we should source food closer to home, and learning how to make the most climate-conscious decisions. With 25% of greenhouse gas emissions coming from food, we wanted to investigate the real impact of the top trending food and drinks of the moment.

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Using My Emissions Food Carbon Footprint Calculator, our research analysed the ingredients of the top trending food, drinks and recipes on Instagram and TikTok to reveal which ones are the most eco-friendly and which ones are contributing to greenhouse gas emissions the most. By calculating how many grams of carbon dioxide equivalent (gCO2e) each meal produces, we were then able to reveal the highest and lowest emitters. For reference, driving one mile emits 404 grams of carbon dioxide and the highest emitter found in our research produces over 14 times more than that.