'Low-Carbon' Diet Good for You and Earth

Remember the low-carb craze? Like most dietary fads, that one seems to have come and gone. The new thing you'll be hearing about is the low-carbon diet. Carbon emissions, that is.

Whether you believe we are in the midst of a global warming crisis or you just want to tread a little more gently on the Earth, you might consider the impact of the food we eat.

All humans need to eat, of course. But what we choose to eat not only affects our bodies, but also the environment.

Jackie Newgent is a registered dietitian who has written a new book called "Big Green Cookbook." It's part cookbook, part education manual on how to eat greener and healthier, and it's where today's recipe comes from.

This recipe follows several of Newgent's tenets, one of which is to eat more plant-based meals. It takes much less energy to grow plants than to "grow" animals. While plants need water and food to grow, be harvested and transported, cows and pigs need far more of these things before we can get them to our dinner plate. And the good news is that eating fewer animal foods and more plant-based foods is better for our bodies. too.

Another of Newgent's recommendations is to cook in an energy-wise manner. You'll notice that the recipe directions do not have you preheat the oven to toast the bread, and you are instructed to turn the oven off before the bread is finished cooking. The residual heat from the oven continues to toast the bread, even after the oven is turned off, so you make use of what is usually "leftover" oven heat.

Similarly, the directions use residual heat from the pan and burner used to saut some of the vegetables used in this recipe. The eggplant, onion and garlic are sauted, but not until they are fully cooked. Letting the pan sit, covered, with the burner turned off allows heat generated from the pan, the vegetables and the burner to continue to cook the vegetables until they are done. "Free" heat, if you will.

Making changes like these in your cooking will not only reduce your carbon footprint, but also your utility bill.

I made a few changes in the recipe when I made it recently. I reduced the oil to the amount you see printed here, and I didn't have any pine nuts, so I didn't add them. I also was out of fresh tomatoes. Rather than drive to the store to get some, which would have added extra carbon emissions, I used canned tomatoes from my pantry. I ended up using about five whole canned tomatoes, chopped, without their juice. I can use the rest of the can in another dish.

These changes worked just fine and produced a yummy mixture that was delicious on the toasted bread.

If you want to lower the sodium, cutting down on the salt would help, of course. But a lot of the sodium comes from the baguette. If you can find a lower-sodium baguette, you could substitute it, or use crackers with unsalted tops instead. You could still toast these, but it wouldn't take as long, so watch your oven carefully.

Even if you don't worry about the environment, I think you will enjoy this recipe, which is loosely based on traditional bruschetta.

You could serve these toasts as an appetizer at a party or eat the suggested serving of six toasts as an entre.

Megan Murphy is a Tennessee-licensed registered dietitian and assistant professor of nutrition at Southwest Tennessee Community College. Call 277-3062, fax 529-2787, e-mail Meganmyrd@aol.com.