An Indian takeaway is one of the most popular takeaways to have in Britain. So, how can we reduce carbon emissions when ordering Indian food? Research by Mike Berners-Lee book ‘How Bad are Bananas?’ shows how the carbon footprint changes as you add different ingredients to an Indian dish.

Indian curries and meat

As with all meals, curries with meat and in particular beef and lamb, are going to have a higher carbon footprint. Research suggests the best things to order from the menu are the veggie curries. Below is a breakdown of the carbon emissions from different types of curries:

A veggie curry: 1.3kg CO2e

A chicken curry: 2.1kg CO2e             

A lamb curry: 4kg CO2e

A king prawn curry: 5.1kg CO2e

The research shows that the increase in carbon emissions changes considerably when you add meat. You can also see how bad lamb is in comparison to chicken because substituting chicken for lamb doubles the amounts of emissions of a meal. Beef and lamb always have a much higher carbon footprint than other meats because cattle and lamb are ruminant animals. This means they have a digestive system that produces a lot of methane in the process of digesting food. Methane is one of main greenhouse gases warming up the earth and particularly cattle are significantly contributing to global warming, so cutting down red meat is really important.

King prawns have a very high carbon footprint because they are airfreighted (transported by plane) and are often farmed in South Asia which involves destroying important mangrove plantations. Mangroves are considered ‘the rainforest of the ocean’ which provide an ecosystem for many animals, boost food security and protect against extreme weather and natural disasters. If you really want order meat from an Indian takeaway, try to stick to chicken, pork or fish (except King prawns) to keep carbon emissions down.

Side dishes and food waste

If you are wondering whether a naan or rice is better for the environment, according to the assumptions made by Berners-Lee, a typical naan has 0.12kg CO₂e and 90g rice has 0.3kg CO₂e. This suggests ordering naan is better, but both figures are so low that it does not make much difference to the whole meal. Another factor that makes a big difference to the carbon footprint of an Indian takeaway is the amount of food waste generated from the meal. So be careful not to order too much food and you will save money and carbon emissions.