This new kitchen of the future will bring together researchers, students, and communities at UVM and beyond to develop more sustainable practices – from sourcing, to cooking, to eating – using the kitchen environment as a living laboratory for: 

• Food Research and Experimentation 
• Recipe Development 
• Sustainable Kitchen Practices 
• Reimagined Cooking Spaces 

The Climate Kitchen is a place to figure out what to do next. The emphasis is on anticipating the future. And to do so while keeping in mind there must be more opportunities for mitigating climate change and promoting individual and planetary health. As part of this vision, data is collected on what happens in kitchens today and researchers and students work in a kitchen that facilitates our understanding of the best practices for climate friendly cooking and eating in the future. For example, in our current space there is now a high-speed low energy dishwasher being used and metered to collect data on water and energy use. There are also Instapots, Deyhdrators, Flour Mills, induction burners and other technologies that help imagine and test future scenarios for how we will cook and eat.

We are developing the design and actively raising the funds to create a vibrant, integrated teaching/research/outreach venue to support all the Climate Kitchen activities. We work together with a professional kitchen designer, architect and the UVM planning and facilities as we imagine the necessary spaces and equipment for the kitchen of 2050.

Our innovative new kitchen space will be constructed at UVM in collaboration with designers and architects. The Climate Kitchen will include a variety of kitchen space prototypes, equipment, and technologies to provoke ideas and actions for more sustainable food systems. 

The core UVM Climate Kitchen faculty and researchers have a long history of success in research funding, curriculum development, and published scholarly works. Our focus is on creating opportunities for broader collaboration, partnerships, funding and support. The Climate Kitchen is funded in part the UVM Food Systems Research Center.

The Climate Kitchen sponsors courses at the undergraduate and graduate level that teach students necessary skills and concepts – in kitchens and beyond - that can address individual and planetary health. 

The Climate Kitchen courses integrate the sustainability tenets of the Climate Kitchen throughout the curriculum: plant forward, integrating tastes and habits, low waste, whole food utilization and regional/local sourcing. The undergraduate course, Foods for Planetary Health, combines in-person lectures and labs and is offered by the Nutrition and Food Sciences department. The graduate course, Cooking for Individual and Planetary Health, is an all-online course.

The Climate Kitchen, in collaboration with the Culinary Medicine program at UVM Medical Center and the Osher Center for Integrative Health, has developed learning modules that explore key concepts for future professionals in nutrition and health science that will be used across University of Vermont and University of Vermont Medical Center.