Build any dish and see its climate, land and water grade, its nutrition, allergens and cost, in the same tool hotels and caterers use. For practical assessments, menu projects, competitions and dissertations.
Works with .ac.uk, .sch.uk and .edu addresses. Apprentices on a work email can join with a class code.
Choose your course to see how CHEF fits what you are already being asked to do.
Level 2 and 3 professional cookery, T Level Catering, commis chef and chef de partie apprenticeships, HND and degrees in culinary arts
On an apprenticeship? A before-and-after comparison of your menu shows your thinking on sustainability, seasonality and menu planning. Check with your assessor how to include it in your portfolio.
Hospitality, hotel and events management, and food and beverage management degrees
Case study ready: at Celtic Manor Resort, food and beverage was 49% of on-site emissions, more than all its energy use combined. A ready-made discussion point for operations and CSR modules.
Nutrition, dietetics, food science and public health courses
A good question to explore: a dish can score Nutri-Score A and still be an E for the planet. Which should a menu show, and how?
Environmental science, sustainability, food systems and agriculture courses, including MSc modules on life cycle assessment
Beyond carbon: find two dishes with similar kg CO₂e but different land or water grades. It is a quick way to show why single-indicator footprints mislead.
Each one uses the free example dishes, so nobody has to write a recipe first.
Start from Classic Spaghetti Bolognese (grade D). Get it to a B without changing its character or raising the cost per portion by more than 10%.
Write a seasonal special, build it in CHEF and print the label. Then make one change to bring the grade down and explain the change to a guest in one sentence.
Model one ready meal and compare its Nutri-Score, UK traffic lights and HFSS result, Health Star Rating and US Nutrition Facts.
Import a six-dish menu with costs and prices. Rank it by gross profit and by kg CO₂e per £1 of profit, then propose two changes.
Find two dishes with similar kg CO₂e but different land or water grades. Trace the difference to specific indicators and ingredients.
Average data, single-score weighting and a per-serving functional unit: test how sensitive each grade is to each of these choices.
Hilton added carbon labels to menus across almost 30 UK hotels in 2023. Chefs and managers who can read and improve those numbers stand out.
Hilton, Oct 2023From September 2026, EU rules require businesses to back up environmental claims. Employers need staff who can show the evidence.
Directive (EU) 2024/825Student cookery competitions increasingly recognise low-waste, climate-smart menus. A graded menu is a clear way to show your thinking to judges.
e.g. Zest Quest Asia Least Waste AwardStudents who sign in with a .ac.uk, .sch.uk or .edu address get Pro automatically.
Sign in →For apprentices and anyone on a work or personal email. One code covers a cohort and normally runs to the end of the academic year.
Request a class code →Tell us your institution and we’ll add your college’s email domain.
Add your college →| Environmental data | Agribalyse 3.2 (ADEME), 2,500+ foods, cradle to plate |
|---|---|
| Nutrition data | Ciqual 2025 (ANSES) |
| Impact method | EU Environmental Footprint 3.1: 16 indicators, EU normalisation and weighting |
| Unit | Per serving, in milli-points (mPt) of the EF single score |
Grade bands double at each step. The C/D line (0.4 mPt) is a fair share for one main meal.
Full methodology →Harvard style. Cite the underlying datasets in your methodology too.
Good research says what the data can’t do.
Yes. Sign in with a college or university email (.ac.uk, .sch.uk or .edu), or use a class code from your lecturer, and Pro unlocks at no cost. Lite is free for everyone, no sign-up needed.
Ask your college tutor for a class code. You enter it with any email address and get Pro for the period your college set.
Yes. Cite CHEF and its data sources, and say which recipe and portion you used. Treat nutrition labels and allergens as indicative, and check them against supplier information.
Yes. CHEF runs in any modern browser on phones, tablets and computers.
Find out in under two minutes, free.
CHEFCalculator for Health, Environment and Food
Free A–E grades for climate, land and water from all 16 EU PEF indicators, with nutrition and allergens.