If you are among those who think before they eat, who try to reduce the environmental impact and CO2 emissions of their diet. If you are among those who buy products that haven't travelled an excessive number of kilometres before reaching the shop around the corner. If you are among those who limit or have cut out meat. Or if you try to eliminate waste by buying just the right amount to avoid throwing food in the bin. If you think about all of this when you sit down at the table, then you can quite comfortably consider yourself a "climatarian". Who are climatarians?

How the term climatarian came about

An Italian version of this term does not yet exist, but one wouldn't go far wrong by attempting the word "climatariano" as a translation. The term climatarian was officially recognised by the American newspaper New York Times, which included it in its list of new food-related words of 2015. Climatarian thus worthily replaces the synonym "ecotarian" — most likely first used in 2005 by a group of researchers at the University of Oxford and later picked up in an article in the British newspaper the Times written by Tony Turnbull on 25 September 2008 — to describe people who eat only food produced in a sustainable way. A word, however, that never quite took hold in common usage among environmentalists.

Climatarian: and you know what you eat (less meat, for certain)

Climatarian, on the other hand, could enjoy a better fate, because its root directly evokes one of the most important challenges of this century: combating climate change. A fight that every individual can take up through sustainable practices, such as choosing alternative, low-emission forms of transport — but above all by adopting a diet that respects the environment and the land.

14.5 per cent of total CO2 emissions, in fact, is produced by intensive livestock farming and dairy operations. It is therefore better to do away with beef — or rather red meat in general — and, only if necessary, to opt for white meat (such as chicken). And then yes to creative recipes that make use of every part of an ingredient and eliminate waste, as Lisa Casali and Andrea Segrè have been advocating for years. Another unavoidable choice is that of products that don't come from the other side of the world.

Climatarians now join the ranks of reducetarians (people who reduce their consumption of animal products), pescatarians (those who do not eat meat but do eat fish — also a diet adopted by many people mindful of the environment and their health), vegetarians (those who eat neither meat nor fish) and vegans (those who eat no meat, fish or animal-derived products such as cheese and eggs). But the complete list would be considerably longer.

Anyone who cares about the environment cannot help but hear this term as music to their ears. After all, eating meat carries too high a price for us to keep turning a blind eye. How many planets would we need if every inhabitant of the Earth ate the same amount of meat as a European — or worse, an American? So, don't feel out of place or embarrassed any longer: the next time you sit down at the table, proclaim with pride that you are a climatarian. Who knows — others might just follow suit. Starting with the waiter, who the first time will stare at you wide-eyed (and open-eared).