EAT-Lancet in Action: Bringing Bivalves To The Table

What is the EAT-Lancet Planetary Health Diet?

Updated from its first iteration in 2019 and launched at the EAT Forum in Stockholm in 2025, the EAT-Lancet Commission’s Planetary Health Diet is a reference diet based on the best available science. Bringing together health, sustainability and justice considerations, this dietary pattern supports optimal health outcomes and can be applied globally within different contexts, allowing for cultural and regional variation. In short, the Planetary Health Diet is a flexitarian way of eating, largely plant-based with the optional inclusion of modest amounts of fish, meat and dairy.

The science is clear: changing what we eat is essential to building a future in which both people and planet can thrive. This suggested shift in consumption and production patterns will render healthy and sustainable food more accessible and reduce the pressure on our planet.

The Planetary Health Diet: A chef’s perspective

Oscar Jonasson is Head Chef at Sodexo Restaurant Björken in Uppsala, Sweden. He was part of the team serving dinner at the 2025 EAT Forum in Stockholm, and participated in Sodexo’s side event, ‘From Collective Dining to Collective Impact’, highlighting the role of foodservice as a lever for scaling up positive impact. To gain a chef’s perspective, we asked Chef Oscar how he embraces the science behind the Planetary Health Diet in his approach to menu planning.

“Together with WWF, Sodexo has been working towards healthier and more sustainable meals for many years, and our journey aligns with the research on food and health,” says Oscar. “As a chef, my goal is to inspire, inform and make it easier for our guests to choose meals that are both good for them and for the planet. This means I am constantly reviewing some of our dishes with the highest climate and health impact to find ways to serve them in a more sustainable and healthy way. Often, small changes in ingredients or preparation can make a big difference. I want to show that healthy and sustainable food can also be delicious — something people choose not just because it’s good for them, but because it tastes amazing.”

“Food should taste good and do good,” he continues. “What we serve directly affects our guests’ wellbeing, so we have a responsibility; at the same time, the food must be familiar, tasty and appealing enough for people to actually choose it. I don’t want to lecture my guests or make them feel pressured to eat a certain way. I know that taste and price will always be the main decision drivers for them — but once we deliver on those, making food healthy and sustainable becomes a natural next step. If we get that balance right, I truly believe the entire food system benefits, from producer to the hospitality business and the consumer.”

The EAT-Lancet report underscores the need to reduce the amount of meat consumed globally in order to improve public health, cut carbon emissions and water use, limit deforestation and protect biodiversity. At the same time, however, many populations continue to struggle to meet nutritional needs, and obtaining adequate quantities of micronutrients from plant foods alone can be a challenge. Substitutes for meat-based protein must therefore generate a significantly lower environmental impact while also meeting nutritional requirements.

Below, we highlight bivalves — a category of shellfish that includes mussels, clams, oysters and scallops — as a food that ticks both of these boxes, exploring how chefs can incorporate more of these foods into their menus in creative ways.

How can bivalves support a healthy population?

Mussels, oysters, clams and other bivalves are a fantastic addition to a modern menu, providing a nutritious source of protein and a wealth of vitamins and minerals. The protein content of mussels, for example, is 24g per 100g; for clams, it’s 26g. These figures are comparable to 26g for beef and 27g for chicken.

Furthermore, bivalves provide a wealth of vitamins, including vitamin B12 (which can be almost impossible to obtain on a purely plant-based diet without supplements) and vitamin D. They’re rich in important minerals like iron, zinc, selenium and magnesium, as well as heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids, and low in total fat. With many of these nutrients especially important for growth, this nutritional profile is particularly relevant in terms of maternal and child health.

Even speaking in purely economic terms, bivalves have the potential to contribute to the growth of developing nations in a significant way. The combined potential economic and nutritional benefits are so significant that the FAO and WHO began working together in 2019 to encourage developing nations to adopt bivalve farming, providing training programmes through Cefas to ensure safe, sustainable production with adequate sanitation controls and codes of practice.

How can bivalves support a healthy planet?

While fish and seafood must play an important role in meeting the nutritional needs of the growing global population, there is a need to improve the management of the world’s oceans to ensure that fish stocks are utilised responsibly, and that global aquaculture is expanded in careful, conscious ways that will remain sustainable in the long term.

Bivalves offer a fantastic environmentally friendly option. ​​Unlike most methods of aquaculture, farming bivalves has minimal impact relative to their nutritional value. This type of farming requires no land, no freshwater and no feed; since bivalves feed themselves through water filtering, they even improve water quality. Harvesting is targeted and straightforward, without causing damage to ecosystems or bringing in unwanted by-catch.

Bivalve production also has a very low carbon footprint compared to meat, generating just 11.1 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions per tonne of protein — compared to the 57.6 tonnes produced by pork and 337.2 tonnes by beef. In one 2021 analysis, farmed bivalves were shown to have a lower carbon footprint than any other type of seafood.

Furthermore, bivalves build their shells by capturing and storing carbon. These shells can then be repurposed into cost-effective building materials; when crushed, oyster shells can be used in mortar, bricks and as a substitute for sand in cement. (There are plenty of applications for hospitality, too: BOCA in Dubai supports the Dibba Bay Reef Oyster Project by redirecting oyster shells to serve as a base for new coral reef development. Drinks coasters at Singapore’s FURA bar are made from the spent shells of their neighbour's oyster bar, while in Bali, Desa Potato Head combines powdered shells with limestone and discarded HDPE plastic to create new items like tissue boxes, food trays and dustbins.)

Bringing bivalves into the kitchen

We asked Oscar how he integrates bivalves into menus. “Bivalves are fantastic ingredients to work with because they bring wonderful flavour and valuable nutrition from the sea, yet they’re one of the most sustainable animal proteins available,’ he says. “They contribute to healthier marine ecosystems and require very little to produce an incredible taste experience. I think we’ll see interest in bivalves grow, although we need to consider cost and how willing guests are to try them. That balance will shape how widely we can use them in everyday menus.”

Bivalves do a great job as the centre focus of a dish, and it’s well worth exploring their potential as a complete replacement for meat in one or more of your menu options. “We’ve experimented, for example, with serving mussel pasta in schools,” says Oscar. “The response was surprisingly positive, even though for some students it was a completely new experience. It’s all about introducing new ingredients in a positive setting, letting curiosity lead the way and then evaluate the results. Beyond that, we have increased bivalves in our seafood stews or mixed fish dishes, where they enhance flavour without feeling unfamiliar. They are an easy way to make a meal more sustainable while keeping it delicious and appealing.”

Bivalves also stand up well to spice, lending themselves well to dishes like Thai or Indian curries, spicy skewers or fiery stir-fries. If you serve the classic French steak au poivre, give some thought to how clams or scallops could replace the beef, pairing well with the creamy peppercorn sauce and some crispy frites.

Mussels and oysters work well when breaded or battered; think popcorn mussels or tempura oysters as a sustainable swap for fried chicken dishes. Scallop and mussel meat can be minced and used in fritters or burgers.

Chefs can also explore bivalves as a substitute for higher-impact fish and shellfish, for example using mussels instead of prawns when creating a dish.

Bivalve dishes around the world

To provide further inspiration for how bivalves could show up on your menu, here are just a few examples of mussel, clam, scallop and oyster dishes eaten around the world.

• Belgium: One of Belgium’s national dishes is moules a la Gueze, mussels cooked in an unflavoured, wild yeasted wheat beer.
• Chile: Cazuela chilota is a traditional soup made with mussels, pumpkin, cabbage, potatoes, hot peppers, rice and herbs.
• France: In the classic moules frites, mussels are steamed in a white wine sauce and served with skinny French fries.
• India: The region of Goa features plenty of seafood in its cuisine, including clam masala.
• Ireland: Scallops are often paired with black pudding (an Irish blood sausage) and cauliflower purée as a starter. Seafood chowder is found on many pub menus and typically includes mussels.
• Italy: Spaghetti con vongole is a pasta dish with fresh clams originating in the coastal regions of southern Italy. Naples offers its own specialty, pasta e fagiole con cozze, combining pasta and mussels with beans, another climate-friendly food.
• Kenya: In Mombasa, oysters are baked in a sauce made from butter, white wine and hot sauce.
• Louisiana, USA: The famous New Orleans po’boy features fried seafood in a soft bread bun. While shrimp is the most common, oyster po-boys are also popular.
• Malaysia: Sate kerang is an Indonesian dish made with spiced, braised and skewered mussels or clams, eaten as a snack or side dish.
• South Korea: Made with onions, scallions, garlic and hot peppers, honghap tang is a traditional mussel soup popular in soju bars.
• Spain: Mejillones en escabeche is a traditional method of preserving mussels in vinegar with olive oil and aromatics, served as hot or cold tapas alongside fresh bread. In Bilbao, tigres are mussels stuffed with onions, then coated in breadcrumbs, fried and served with a spicy anchovy and tomato sauce.
• Thailand: Hoi tod is a crispy pancake filled with beansprouts and either mussels or oysters.
• Turkiye: Midye dolma is a popular Turkish street food dish, with mussels filled with a mixture of rice, herbs, nuts, raisins and spices.
• USA: The north-east coast of the United States offers many regional variations of clam chowder. The three most popular are New England or ‘white’ clam chowder, which includes milk or cream; Manhattan or ‘red’ clam chowder, which includes tomatoes; and Rhode Island or ‘clear’ clam chowder, which has neither.
• Vietnam: Hến xúc bánh đa is a popular appetiser combining stir-fried clams with dried onion, lemongrass, ginger, chilli and coriander, served with crunchy sesame rice crackers.

You can learn more about the updated EAT-Lancet report here, and keep an eye out for the remaining pieces in this series; the next article will explore beans and pulses as another key ingredient.

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