Famous French gastronome Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin once said, ‘the discovery of a new dish does more for the happiness of the human race than the discovery of a star.’

Can you remember when last you experienced that joyful feeling of trying an exciting new dish? The feeling that you never want the meal to end and all you want to do is savour every mouthful because it tastes so delicious?

New flavours excite us. Foods that we think we won’t like can be completely transformed when they’re cooked a different way, and we give them a chance. In our everyday lives we get comfortable and fall into the same eating habits again and again. We’re busy. We have work to do, errands to run, and children to feed. We want quick and easy. This often means that we stick to what we know – what we know, how to cook, and what we know we like.

Does Your Shopping Basket Look the Same?

Does your shopping basket look the same every week? We’re not surprised. Sticking to those same recipes and ingredients has resulted in us eating less than 1% of all the edible plants available to us and relying heavily on just three crops: rice, maize and wheat. ¹

We get used to buying the same produce from the same producers because, after all, we are creatures of habit. But what if you got out of your comfort zone and introduced your family to one or two new, exciting, and flavourful dishes each week? It could be a game changer for your family’s taste buds!

A Lack of Variety Isn’t Good for Us

This lack of variety isn’t good for us. Many people are not getting their daily intake of vitamins and minerals. Only 15% of countries worldwide eat the recommended number of vegetables. ² This demand for the same kinds of produce is also not good for our planet either. A lack of diversity from growing and consuming the same foods, on repeat, puts our fragile natural ecosystem at risk and poses a real threat to food security.

The good news is we can all help safeguard the future of our food simply by trying something new. We need to try and get a wider variety of foods onto our plates. To make eating for good easier, Knorr and WWF SA have teamed up to create a list of Future 50 Foods that are better for our health as well as the planet.

Choose Variety and Help Save the Planet

Shake up your diet with spinach, kale and watercress. Reach for wild rice or try buckwheat instead of the usual white rice. Looking for more protein? Lentils and broad beans can be your new best friends. Eating less common, but easily available, foods can send the message to farmers to grow a more varied array of crops.

This can protect the food system and make it more resilient. We know that breaking a habit can be hard, but we want to help everyone rediscover the joy of trying something new. At the same time, you’ll be helping the planet - one new recipe at a time.

Sign up for our Future 50 Foods Cookbook and find out how to make well-loved dishes in a delicious and planet-friendly way.

¹Knorr and WWF (2019), Future 50 Foods Report (PDF 9.4 mb)
²Knorr and WWF (2019), Future 50 Foods Report (PDF 9.4 mb)