National Trust pub first in UK to put carbon footprint of dishes on menu

Sticklebarn in Cumbria, which is operated by the National Trust, has listed the carbon footprint of each dish on the menu to give diners the choice of a more “climate friendly meal”.

The pub worked with Mike Berners-Lee, a leading expert on greenhouse gases and the brother of World Wide Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee, to calculate the carbon dioxide equivalent emissions (CO2e) of each dish.

It made the changes to its menu earlier this year in a bid to increase sustainability and highlight their rangers’ conservation work.

Dishes with low carbon footprints include an egg mayonnaise sandwich (0.22kg), baked beans on toast (0.22kg), a vegan crunchy black bean burger (0.43kg), jam roly poly with custard (0.21kg) and local ice cream (0.08kg).

Most of the meals with a higher output were meat based dishes including lamb and damson stew (3.19kg), slow roasted lamb burger (4.53kg) and Ropa Vieja chilli (5.4kg) which includes roasted & pulled beef with chilli, chocolate, coffee, sour cream, guacamole, pico de gallo, jalapeños, spring rice, coriander and a crispy tortilla.

To decrease its food miles, the pub sources all of its meat from local butchers Higginsons of Grange – it’s venison comes from National Trust land at Cartmel while its Cumberland sausage is made in house.

It has an in-house baker and has increased the number of vegan and vegetarian offerings. It is also supplied by Lake District brewery Hawkshead.

Sticklebarn’s food and beverages manager Gareth Fuke said: “Food is such an important part of people’s lives and there is much more awareness and interest in seasonal and local.

“The carbon calculator is a way of quantifying this. It helps us plan the menu and provides diners with choices.

“It’s been well received and people appreciate being given the freedom to choose what they want to eat.

“We want meat on our menu that is local and high quality so we can cater for everyone.

“At Sticklebarn we champion the traditional Herdwick breed for our lamb dishes, produced by local farmers including our tenant farmers.

“These hardy sheep graze on our mountains and taste wonderful.”

The full menu can be viewed here.