Fuel for the Future: Sustainable Foods with Wolfram Language

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Tech-Based Teaching: Computational Thinking in the Classroom

4 min readMar 23, 2023

The following was written by Isabel Skidmore and was originally published on the Wolfram Blog. The original post can be viewed here.

Selection of images of foods such as chickpeas, cabbages, and beets showing the names, an image, and a nutritional grid beneath each

National Nutrition Month® is here, and the theme is “Fuel for the Future.” The future of food is sustainability, which we will explore through Wolfram Language. What is sustainable eating? It’s choosing the right foods, reducing food waste, eating local foods in season and even growing your own garden. Sustainability can lead to personal and planetary health.

The Power of Plants

Many plants are high in nutrients and low in environmental impact. They produce oxygen, absorb carbon dioxide and help prevent soil erosion. Use FoodCompassPlot for a diagram of the major nutrients as a percentage of recommended daily value for these powerful plants:

FoodCompassPlot code block showing code for various foods in the Wolfram Language, along with the output of images and nutritional data. Foods include kale, chickpeas, cabbage, beets, and millet.

FoodCompassPlot can analyze your favorite recipes too. Here, we looked at a homemade tahini sauce popular for drizzling over nutrient-packed veggie bowls:

FoodCompassPlot output of tahini, as shown by individual ingredients in the code block

Next, we did the same thing with our favorite peanut sauce recipe. You can see that the two sauces are similar in calories, carbohydrates and total fat, but notice the difference in protein between the tahini sauce and the peanut sauce:

A compass plot with carbs, protein, daily value, and the like, with a blue shape showing the values graphed out

Magic Beans

Beans and other legumes are good plant-based sources of protein, fiber and minerals, including iron, potassium and magnesium. They are rich in nutrients, with a lower environmental impact than animal sources. Whether you prefer detailed tabular data or informative charts, you can explore the extensive database of beans and other plant-based foods:

Table showing fiber, protein, et cetera, for various beans, as output by a code block

Relative protein to relative fiber charts for beans, with lentils and adzuki sitting near the top

Legumes are nitrogen fixers. They take nitrogen from the air and transform it into fertilizer, which improves soil health and reduces the need for synthetic fertilizers. Legumes do this through a symbiotic bacteria called Rhizobium. Use species data to investigate Rhizobium and other symbiotic bacteria:

High Nutrients, Low Emissions

Greenhouse gas emissions from fish and seafood can be from multiple sources: fueling the boats and fishing equipment, processing and transporting the daily catch, and manufacturing feed for fish farming. Promoting foods with high nutrient density and low greenhouse gas emissions is key to sustainability. Use RankChart for vibrant, informative ranking of fish and seafood varieties:

Code block and output showing the greenhouse gas emissions versus nutritional value of several types of fish, including tuna, salmon, and much more

Data source: “Assessing Seafood Nutritional Diversity Together with Climate Impacts Informs More Comprehensive Dietary Advice”

Shopping Local

For sustainable eating, buy local foods in season. By eliminating long-distance transportation and storage, the food will be fresher and more flavorful, with more nutrients still intact. Best of all, you’re supporting local farmers and their families:

A map of U.S. distributors for okra, showing location dots on the eastern side of the country in places like Florida, the Carolinas, and more

Home Grown

Growing your own fruits and vegetables is a great way to eat sustainably, enjoy the outdoors and teach your family valuable skills. Which plants are most likely to thrive where you live? The USDA has divided the United States into 13 plant hardiness zones, based on their average annual minimum winter temperature. Each zone represents a 10-degree Fahrenheit range. Numbered from 1 to 13, Zone 1 is the coldest and Zone 13 is the warmest:

A look at orchard trees and hardiness zones for apples, pears, and more, arranged on a table after a code block

Turn your food scraps and yard waste into nutrient-rich soil by composting. Compost is full of nutrients important for plant growth, including nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium:

A breakdown of compost into potassium, phosphorus, and nitrogen, with a photo of two cupped hands holding soil to the left of a branching chart with the material names

Love Your Leftovers

Eating leftovers means less food waste. Wolfram Language can help you safely store those leftovers by providing the maximum recommended refrigerated and frozen storage times for a wide variety of foods:

Chart showing leftover days for food safety for dishes such as meatloaf, pizza, and spaghetti sauce

As you can see, most cooked leftovers that are refrigerated promptly can be stored for three to four days.

Insects on the Menu

Edible insects have been a traditional food source in many cultures for thousands of years. Now they are gaining wider acceptance as an alternative, sustainable protein source. The most common edible insects are crickets, grasshoppers, mealworms and ants:

WebImageSearch code block showing various photos of edible bugs, from crickets to grasshoppers

To Learn More

From beans to bugs, I hope you’ve enjoyed this look at food sustainability through Wolfram Language. To learn more about sustainable eating, visit the USDA website.

Visit the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics for free resources about National Nutrition Month® 2023.