Lidl takes another step towards sustainability
Say wine, snacks or haute cuisine and the gourmands at online food magazine FavorFlav know where to drink, how to eat it and what to cook. This time our cheffies serve you: Lidl is taking another step towards sustainability.
Someone recently asked if we own shares in Lidl, since we write about it so often (haha). No, that's not the case, but we are indeed fans. Because besides being able to buy fun items like churro makers and Oktoberfest beer kegs during promotional weeks, it is also a supermarket that is actively committed to sustainability and is dealing with the question of how to feed a world population of billions of people in a fairer way in the future. And now they are taking another important step.
Because earlier Lidl pioneered with the most sustainable eggs in the Netherlands and opened the most environmentally conscious supermarket in the Netherlands in Almere. The latest development on the fair and conscious list? Selling delicious basmati rice with a guaranteed sustainability label. That's going to be a hit, we're rushing to the store.
Rice can always be
The Netherlands may not be a leader in rice consumption, yet we eat an average of about five kilos of rice per person per year. Super important in Asian cuisine, of course, but also very tasty as a base for a salad, and of course with the famous Surinamese brown beans. So it would be a really good idea to ensure that this rice comes to our plate in a sustainable and fair way.
Stronger together
With that goal, Lidl has joined a platform called Sustainable Rice Development, which is partly led by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). So, not an amateur club, and this SRD standard is also the first and only sustainability management system that connects rice buyers in global markets with producers who manage their land and production sustainably. The platform was also established to create more efficient cultivation and harvesting methods and better living conditions for rice farmers, increasing their income. They encourage rice farmers to use less water and reduce CO₂ emissions, making the rice better for the environment. A good initiative!
Quickly bring it home
According to Nic Jooste from the platform, Lidl is taking a true pioneering role by being the first to sell this rice in the Netherlands, and the hope is that many supermarkets will follow suit. So, the next time you're at Lidl to pick up that amazing lemon mayonnaise, be sure to grab a bag of rice as well. Because being tasty and doing good, that's what everyone wants, right?
