Foodista Fives - Chef Jay Weinstein

Foodista Fives is a weekly, fun food-related list shared by someone in the culinary world that relates to their line of work…Is there a chef, cookbook author, restauranteur, food blogger that you would like to see featured on Foodista Fives? Let us know in the comment section below!

Jay Weinstein, a chef trained at the Culinary Institute of America, is a New York based food writer, editor, culinary instructor, and author of three culinary books. His food articles and recipes have been featured in The New York Times, Travel & Leisure, Newsday, Time Out New York, National Geographic Traveler, and numerous other publications. His latest book, The Ethical Gourmet, focuses on ecologically sustainable fine foods. He teaches culinary arts at The Natural Gourmet Institute in New York City.

Top Five Things You Can Do to Build a More Sustainable Food System

Choose organic dairy and meat: The impact of saving many acres of livestock-feed farmland from chemical pesticides and fertilizers is bigger than any organic apple or carrot choice. If you’re only going to pick one category to go organic with, make it count.

Work disposables out of your life: Shocking as it seems, Asian countries have been deforested in the name of disposable chopsticks. Now the wood for them comes from Canada and the United States. Carry your own reusable sticks, and skip the take-out containers, paper towels, and over-wrapped consumer goods wherever you can. Only take one napkin.

Prioritize plant-based food in your menus: Make one day a week a vegetarian day. You’ll discover scads of new foods and ingredients, and lower your carbon footprint.

Buy Fair Trade and humane certified products: Buy Fair Trade and humane certified products. Certified Fair Trade goods are made without abusive or slave-like labor practices, and are produced in environmentally sound ways. The price difference is small, but the impact is large.

Drink tap water: Even replacing a tap-water filter regularly creates less pollution than trucking water from place to place in plastic bottles. America is blessed with some of the best quality water on earth. Recognize the value of your local water and fight to preserve its purity rather than outsourcing.