Biodiversity footprints of 151 popular dishes from around the world

having a high biodiversity footprint per kcal per gram (S13 Table) which makes the mean of the biodiversity footprint of the dishes containing them the highest. Besides beef, dishes with chicken, rice, or legumes as the main ingredient also took up a large proportion in the top 20 dishes in terms of biodiversity footprint (Fig 1). Rice and legumes were ranked higher under feedlot-grown scenarios for threatened species and range rarity biodiversity indicators (Fig 2). This was explained by the above-average biodiversity footprint per kcal per gram of legumes under threatened species richness in both locally and globally produced scenarios (S13 Table). High-biodiversity-footprint chicken, rice, and legume dishes tended to be from India and included chicken jalfrezi (type of tomato-based chicken curry), chicken chaat, chana masala, idli (savoury rice cake), and rajma (red kidney beans curry) (Fig 2). Among dishes with the lowest biodiversity footprint, starchy foods comprising potato and wheat (e.g. mantou, Chinese steamed bun) were represented in all four scenarios for all three biodiversity indicators (Figs 2 and 3). These results are partly explained by the lower weights of these dishes’ with below-average biodiversity footprint per kcal per gram under all indica- tors in both the locally and globally produced scenarios (S13 Table). Locally produced versus globally produced scenarios Comparing the globally with the locally produced scenarios, the ranking in biodiversity foot- print of beef dishes dropped under species richness and threatened species richness indicators

while the rankings of egg and chicken dishes increased under all three biodiversity indicators. Similarly, under the species richness indicator for the pasture-grown scenario, dishes with Fig 1. Top 20 dishes with the highest biodiversity footprint (per Mg) for all three biodiversity indicators. Scenario a) feedlot-grown locally produced, b) feedlot-grown globally produced, c) pasture-grown locally produced, and d) pasture-grown globally produced. Plot symbols and colours represent diet and dishes’ region of origin, respectively. Ingredients in the bar chart correspond to the main ingredient in terms of weight in a dish in the top 20 dishes with highest biodiversity footprints. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0296492.g001 PLOS ONE Biodiversity footprint of popular dishes PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0296492 February 21, 2024 7 / 15