BAFU Environmental Day – A Treat

Impressions from Environmental Day at the BAFU Staff Restaurant

Green economy in practice: On June 5, Environmental Day took place at the staff restaurant of the Federal Office for the Environment in Bern. Christoph Holdener and his team cooked according to ecological criteria: exceptionally, there was no meat option; the vegetables were regional and seasonal. The Environmental Day was well attended, and the menus were well received. In particular, the vegetable curry with coconut milk and seasonal vegetables sold out early.

Challenging Competition
The competition was about which vegetables and fruits are in season in June. The questions turned out to be tricky: For example, it was not necessarily obvious to some that, according to the WWF seasonal table, lamb's lettuce is in season from September to July, or that blackberries are usually found from July onwards. And this, of course, applies to a "normal" year, under "normal" weather conditions. In warmer regions like Ticino, many fruits and vegetables are in season earlier.

Encouraging Reactions
We received numerous reactions in advance, most of them encouraging, but also some critical. Criticisms mainly concerned the omission of the meat menu and the origin of the ingredients in the menu (coconut milk and rice). We were able to clarify some of the questions on site, and the calculated CO₂ balance of the menus helped in the discussion. Thus, the rice curry, despite coconut milk, had a better CO₂ balance than the penne with pecorino cheese.

On the competition forms, 91 people voted for such an action day to be held again, 1 against, with 3 abstentions.

We thank you all, and especially the operator of the staff restaurant, Christoph Holderner (from Compass Group (Switzerland) AG), for the commitment.