 So many consumers are eating with a conscience these days – scaling back on meat in an effort to lighten their carbon footprint and paying more attention to the sustainability of the foods they eat. Seafood is playing a new role here, with such items as seaweed and bivalves gaining traction in restaurants for their environmental and nutritional benefits. They both provide a number of key benefits to underwater ecosystems – and farming them has minimal ecological impact. While seaweed’s dietary benefits vary by variety, it’s generally a rich source of minerals and omega-3 fatty acids, as well as vitamins B, C, E and K. Bivalves contain more protein than many meats and plants, as well as omega-3 fatty acids, iron, zinc and magnesium. A recent Restaurant Business report predicts that restaurants could play a significant role in motivating more American consumers to integrate sea vegetables and bivalves into their diets.
 Adding seafood to a dish can help you upgrade your menu with healthy, budget-friendly protein. It can also give you a good story to tell guests at a time when more consumers seek out foods with a lower environmental impact – recent research has found that seafood is a low-emissions protein in relation to other animal proteins. If you’re looking for seafood that can help you upgrade your menu in climate-friendly ways, talk to Team Four and also look to Seafoodwatch.org, which recommends --- and allows you to search for – domestic and imported sources of seafood that are fished or farmed in environmentally sustainable ways.
 Seafood is central to summer vacation for many people – and at its most craveable during this time of year. If you’re featuring seafood on your menu this summer, look for ways to serve it sustainably and with minimal waste. To help, look beyond offering seafood as the main attraction of a dish. Finding strong supporting roles for seafood in a range of dishes including soups, stews, pastas, tacos and stir fries can help improve your utilization, nose to tail.
 Using a range of global seasonings on your menu can provide a couple of important benefits: It can help you reinvent a protein or an entire dish while keeping your inventory simple – and in doing so, it can add the kind of variety and frequent change to your menu that will keep guests interested. Take one of the proteins or starches you have as an inventory staple and consider how you might transform it in multiple ways with the help of global flavors. Your menu can act as a passport – the only one your guests are likely to be using right now.
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