Trucks
Trucks
This is the story of how food and beverage companies, transport providers, and a renowned chef came together to produce a gourmet dinner – all while keeping road transport exhaust emissions as low as possible. But the project wasn’t just about this one dinner. It was about demonstrating a new way of thinking: that more sustainable transport is not merely an add-on, but a core component of food production.
When it comes to food production, sustainability is often discussed in terms of farming methods, food waste, and packaging. However, as revealed by recent research, food transport is one of the largest causes for emission, accounting for 19% of the industry’s total emissions.
While eating locally-produced ingredients is one way to reduce emissions, it isn’t the whole solution. We live in a globalized world where food travels across countries and continents. As such, we must rethink how food moves: not just where it comes from. And this is a massive challenge for the food industry – addressing it is something which multiple actors will need to work on together.
But this challenge is also what sparked the idea of organizing a gourmet dinner, in a downtown restaurant, where every ingredient was delivered with environmental care in mind.
A simplified version of the experiment might have involved a single electric truck collecting goods and driving directly to the restaurant. However, to mirror the reality of logistics today, the project was designed to incorporate several transport routes and providers. The final destination was a restaurant tucked away on a narrow street in Gothenburg, Sweden.
There can be no dinner without a chef. Enter Marcus Samuelsson, a world-famous chef whose journey from Ethiopia to Sweden and finally New York City has given him a unique perspective on the global impact of the food industry.
“For this project I had to think about transportation as an ingredient, right? It’s a main character. That’s why I love this challenge. Because once we do this, it’s going to push the industry forward. Hopefully one day, all chefs will write on the menu how the food was transported to the restaurant, and that’s going to become a new premium. We want to do the right thing, and therefore we have to really think through how the food gets to us,” he says.
The evening’s menu – featuring miso-glazed cod, cabbage, crayfish and cucumber salad, accompanied by Riesling – turned the chef’s recipe into a detailed task list, with each ingredient presenting its own logistical requirements. How could salt be delivered without tailpipe emissions? Was it possible to maintain safe refrigerated transports with electric trucks? Where would the miso and soy sauce come from? And what about the wine – the Riesling paired with the food was produced more than 1,000 kilometers from the restaurant.
“This will be the first dinner of its kind, and I’m super excited to be part of it,” says Marcus Samuelsson.
Let’s start with the salt. Over 350 million tons are produced annually worldwide, but none of it in Sweden, where the dinner was to be held. Unsurprisingly, for the Swedish salt supplier Salinity, logistics have always been a crucial element of its value chain.
“Sweden has no domestic salt production. We have to import, and that makes sustainable logistics really important, and we need to work with our suppliers and with our logistics partners to find optimal supply chains,” says Mira Olausson, Head of Corporate Communication & Sustainability at Salinity.
The salt’s journey began on an electrified railway from a German salt mine, arriving at Salinity’s facility in Falkenberg, Sweden. From there, an electric truck delivered it to a terminal in Gothenburg – where another star ingredient was soon to make its entrance.
The wine could have been sourced from a nearby Swedish vineyard, but it had to be a specific wine, chosen to be perfect for the meal – and “easy” was never the guiding principle for this project. Recognizing that wine often travels long distances and carries a significant carbon footprint, the team chose to challenge themselves. After a few calls (and guided by wine importer Torbjörn Hamner), a wine producer in Germany joined the project. A few weeks later, an electric long-haul truck began its journey from the vineyard of Weingut am Steins. After a 1,140-kilometer journey using three electric long-haul trucks, the wine finally arrived.
“As an importer of organic wine, I realize that transport is just as important to sustainability as the methods of production. They should go hand in hand,” says wine importer Torbjörn Hamner, reflecting on the achievement.
Inspired by the initial success, the team sourced vegetables, sugar, and apple cider vinegar from southern Sweden, delivered using a mix of refrigerated electric trucks and vehicles running on renewable fuels.
The transport for the cream and butter to the restaurant was handled with the same sustainability focus. Even the locally-grown chili was transported in an electric city truck – the same one that also picked up the crayfish directly from the fishing boat.
One of the last pieces of the puzzle saw honey and oil picked up by an electric truck from a west coast farm, delivered to a terminal in Gothenburg, and then transported over the last kilometer by a transport bike.
By the time the last ingredients arrived at the restaurant on the morning of the dinner itself, it was time to reflect on the accomplishment. The ingredients had collectively traveled approximately 2,700 kilometers on the roads, with 86% of that distance covered by electric trucks with zero tailpipe emissions. The remaining road travel was done by trucks running on renewable fuels – proving that more sustainable transport isn’t a futuristic concept, it’s achievable today.
The main ingredient, the freshly-caught cod, was picked up personally by the chef, from local supplier Johan i Hallen & Bergfalk in Gothenburg’s harbor area.
“We mainly deliver our products, meat and seafood, to restaurants and shops in Gothenburg and Stockholm. So, for us it’s primarily focused on deliveries within the city, and though we don’t have the biggest of fleets, we too started our electrification journey. Everyone must step up and take responsibility, and we know where we are heading,” says Christian Dyjee, Marketing Director at Johan i Hallen & Bergfalk.
More than 40 guests attended the dinner, including transport providers, truck drivers, decision-makers, and friends of Marcus. And, of course, the food and beverage companies who provided and shipped the ingredients – who showcased that they could demand, and deliver, more sustainable transport solutions.
And the dinner itself? World-class, according to everyone at the restaurant that night.
“The fact that you see this room is packed and people don’t want to leave on a Monday night means that they’re having a good time. And I hope people make new friends and we start a trend that doesn’t just happen in restaurants, but in your home, too,” says Marcus Samuelsson.
The success of this dinner isn’t just a one-time achievement: it’s proof of concept for the entire transport industry.
The technology is already here. Electric trucks, rail networks, and renewable energy solutions can be combined to create logistics chains that reduce emissions. The industry just needs to scale these solutions and integrate them into everyday operations.
By demanding sustainable solutions, they can push the industry to innovate faster. If more businesses insist on electric or renewable fuel-powered transport, providers will adapt.
It’s easy to focus on the most obvious areas, such as packaging, food waste, and production methods. But, as this project showed, transport is just as crucial. If we want a better, more sustainable food industry in the future, we need to make logistics a central part of the conversation.
By making transport emissions part of the conversation around food, individuals can influence brands to make sustainable logistics a priority. As Marcus himself noted, “Transport is really like an ingredient and something we should showcase on the menu.”
This dinner was more than just a meal; it was a glimpse into what the future of logistics could look like. It was a call to action for transport providers and businesses to rethink how they move goods.
“Hopefully this starts something and inspires us to make better choices, maybe even something as simple as considering transport methods when making food for friends and family at home.” says Marcus Samuelsson.
If this project has proved one thing, it’s that change is possible. The transport industry has an opportunity and a responsibility to lead the way toward a more sustainable future. The question isn’t whether it can be done. This dinner proved that it can. The real question is: who’s next?
