Menus Of Change

Menus of Change®: The Business of Healthy, Sustainable, Delicious Food Choices is a ground-breaking initiative from The Culinary Institute of America and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health that works to realize a long-term, practical vision integrating optimal nutrition and public health, environmental stewardship and restoration, and social responsibility concerns within the foodservice industry and the culinary profession.

Now in its fifth year, Menus of Change has established a compelling new agenda for the foodservice industry through an annual leadership summit at the CIA’s Hyde Park campus, an annual report on the state of the industry, and an ongoing series of tools and guidance for foodservice professionals. The initiative’s thought-leadership includes:

• Showing that changing menus is a powerful, and previously underappreciated, way to drive improvements in our health, our planet, and also is the most important part of doing business in the restaurant and foodservice industry.
• Connecting dietary change and sustainability, and setting the stage for incorporating sustainability into the recommendations of the 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee’s report to inform the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
• Bringing attention to protein, both animal- and plant-based, to show how that macronutrient category has the largest impact on the environment including climate change.
• Making plant-forward dining a mainstream concept in the culinary profession and foodservice industry, with a clear vision for a new way to cook and serve food to others.
• Introducing or advancing new considerations for menus and ingredient choices that are now mainstream, such as the water footprint of food and how to reduce antibiotic use in livestock production.