It used to be that the only guilt associated with a meal was whether you should have an extra helping or if you could afford the calories in that chocolate dessert. Now, according to a story in the New York Times, you have to consider whether grating some Parmesan cheese on top of your pasta is contributing to global warming.

The concept isn’t new — the point has been made for years by locavores, those who tout an “eat local” lifestyle. But in Sweden they’re going further than mere slogans. Shoppers are now finding information about a product’s carbon dioxide impact on the environment, right alongside calories and cholesterol numbers. And it’s more than just the gasses from transporting — the numbers take into account the way food is manufactured, either through artificial processing or natural occurence (damn belching cows!).

Diet for a Small Planet, indeed.