Three days talking about tourism, sustainability, innovation, water, energy, waste, emissions, certifications… and I kept thinking: what about the food?
A few days ago, I was in Mexico City for the Sustainable & Social Tourism Summit 2026, representing Vegan Hospitality and, of course, bringing NAWÉ’s perspective into the conversation.
Throughout the Summit, I heard one thing again and again: the tourism industry is looking for new ways to measure, reduce, and communicate its environmental impact. Hotels already have goals around water and energy consumption, waste reduction, emissions, sourcing, and many other areas of their operations. But there’s one area that I think still has a lot of room to be explored: what we serve on the plate. Food has an environmental footprint too. The decisions made in a kitchen — what ingredients to buy, where to source them, how to design a menu, and which dishes to promote — can also contribute to a hotel or restaurant’s sustainability goals.
And that’s where plant-forward gastronomy gets really interesting. I’m not talking about completely transforming a menu or changing a restaurant’s identity. I’m talking about creating delicious, appealing options, training teams to prepare and recommend them, and starting to see food as another part of a broader sustainability strategy.
I came back from the Summit with lots of new connections, plenty of notes, way too many tabs open on my computer and, most importantly, a lot of ideas about what can still be done in this space. Because maybe the next big opportunity to make hospitality more sustainable isn’t only about solar panels, water systems, or eliminating single-use plastics.
Maybe it’s on the menu, too. And on that note… I may have a few things cooking.