Going Green

Long ago, as a student in culinary school I fell in love with the practicality of culinary art. By that I mean, I love creating something beautiful that can be appreciated by so many of the human senses, and that can be consumed (and is often life sustaining) as well. Nothing about culinary art is wasted.

Some of my cupcakes as culinary art.

Don't get me wrong - I enjoy art galleries, and books, and music, and theater...but, with food I think it's a bonus point that it gets completely consumed. And I felt this way long before it was fashionable to be concerned with the size of my footprint!

Despite the current trends on TV cake shows that allow (and encourage) non-edible materials in cake designs, my cakes are about 97% edible. (Sometimes I do resort to using wooden toothpicks and I need plastic dowels for supporting multiple tiers.)

The use of non-edibles and other resources are the conflicts I have with cake designing that force me to take a long, hard look at the work I do. I love the artistry involved with creating cakes and all food, but I am equally passionate about being a good steward of the earth and environment. (Seriously, I haven't used paper napkins at home for nearly 20 years. Ask my daughter.)

The conflict between making cakes and waste is probably obvious. The act of creating a cake, well...creates waste. The food products I must buy in order to make a cake come in an assortment of containers; plastics, cardboard, sometimes even polystyrene (totally gross). Then there are all the soaps and sanitizers I need to make sure my studio is clean and sanitary. Even going green with these, there are still empty containers to recycle. I need a refrigerator, an oven, a delivery vehicle - all just to make and deliver one cake. I've seen the effects of waste first hand as I traveled through China, and I see it in many places in the U.S. In large part seeing this first-hand is what made me think I might never create anything in the culinary world again.

Beaches in Hong Kong polluted from tides that wash up garbage dumped into the sea.

Villages in rural china where Western packaging and consumer habits are being embraced. Do we really want "retail therapy" to become a global concept?

Found in the hall way of a U.S. establishment. Are we really doing enough or paying lip-service to the problem of trash as our recycling bins over-flow?

Many of my friends would say that I've pretty well mastered the "green life" in my personal life.

I had rain barrels installed this summer for watering my garden.

I'm not perfect, but I work very hard to only buy something new if I absolutely can't find it pre-owned. I use the public library rather than subscribe to a magazine I will only look at one time. I walk or ride my bike for errands under one mile (weather permitting). I've even had my one pair of boots reheeled and resoled at the end of every winter for so long I can't remember when I bought them. I teach my ESL students about the three R's (reduce, reuse, recycle) so they can be educated members of our community.

A class project completed by some of my ESL students. Proof that earth consciousness can transcend language barriers.

When it comes to making a cake as eco-friendly as possible, I am constantly asking myself, "Have I done enough?". I recycle everything that is recyclable. Paper wrappings and cardboard are sorted and taken to the recycling centers near my house. Likewise with plastics, tin, foil, and glass. Egg shells are composted out in the compost bin. Egg cartons are often turned into gardening trays where I sprout seeds for bedding plants.

New life in old trash.

This year I am committed to only purchasing eggs in cardboard cartons, but this means I can't by them at the grocery store nearest my house. So once again, I'm in a conundrum between consuming gas to go the extra distance (about seven miles) to buy eggs in cardboard cartons, while using more gas and producing more fuel emissions, versus buying closer to home (within walking distance) but having polystyrene (Styrofoam) post-consumer waste to deal with.

I use both sides of paper in my printer. I use electronic methods for marketing. I try to find new uses for post consumer materials as well as recycling them.

What is this?! Sometimes I make art from post-consumer waste. This photo and the next...

are examples of greeting cards and envelopes I make out of reclaimed materials (that's a fancy word for "trash".)

One of the benefits of having my studio in my home, as opposed to having a retail space is that I am able to consume seriously less energy - especially electricity and gas. My residential-style oven is more than adequate for most cake sizes and uses far less energy than a larger commercial oven. I'm not heating, cooling and lighting a retail space that may or may not be visited every moment or overnight. Fortunately having a cottage industry is very green and very legal in my community.

You may be wondering, "Why if you're doing all this green stuff already, do you still feel conflicted?". I don't think any opportunity should be over-looked. Here's an example: Should I replace cardboard cake rounds with reusable plastic cake rounds? If I did, obviously I'd eliminate the use of cardboard which I venture to guess ends up in bags marked "landfill" at the end of a wedding reception or event. But if I switch to plastic, then I'd have to make an extra trip in my car (fuel emission, fuel consumption) to retrieve the plastic cake boards, and wash them (water usage and soap). On the flip side, cardboard cake rounds are at least biodegradable whether they end up in a landfill or recycling center. I haven't yet been able to find cardboard cake boards made from recycled material, but I'm looking.

I've been researching wedding trends to see if I'm simply trying to justify my momentary inability to go further green. In my opinion, Sierra Club, offered the most comprehensive and practical advice I've found so far for greening your wedding. For better or worse, many blogs offer great advice but confirm that the greening of the wedding cake is a ubiquitous dilemma for brides and pastry chefs alike.

I think the best advice still comes from Sylvia Weinstock, a noted cake designer, found on Eco Chic Weddings. "Do it smaller, do it finer, do it well." -- Weinstock

Everything edible. One of my recent wedding designs.