DINERS VISITING a unique pop-up café at the London Design Festival will know just how much water has been used to produce their food.
The idea is the brainchild of not-for-profit organisation Wonderwater, and will be staged at the Leilas Shop in Shoreditch between September 12th and 23rd.
The Wonderwater Café menu indicates the breakdown of the water footprint of the dishes and drinks on offer, showing how much water is used to produce the different foods and where it comes from in the world. Customers will also be able to choose low, medium or high water footprint foods on the menu.
Water bottles conveying important water footprint messages will also be placed on each table. There will also be infographics, visual displays and raindrop-shaped blackboards, all of which convey facts and figures on the water footprint of the meals.
Agriculture is responsible for 70% of global water use. In the UK, more than 60% of the water consumed through food is derived from outside the UK.
Kari Korkman, Wonderwater co-founder, said the idea behind the café is to demonstrate the impact of visual design in communicating such complex issues in an engaging, interactive way.
Armed with the right information, people can begin to understand the global flows of water in food production, and opt for dishes with a low water footprint or select foodstuffs produced in regions where water resources are not dangerously strained, said Korkman.
Agriculture represents by far the largest slice of global water consumption, so the most effective way to enhance the sustainability of our water footprint is through the food and drink choices that we make.
