Environmental Footprint and Nutritional Intake of 1,000 Cantonese and Sichuan Dishes in China

Transforming diets toward sustainability requires more than broad recommendations, which begin with a detailed understanding of what people eat. In many cultures, especially in Asia, food is consumed in the form of complex, culturally specific dishes rather than isolated ingredients. Yet, most existing assessments of dietary sustainability remain disconnected from how meals are experienced in daily life. Here, we develop a comprehensive dataset capturing both the nutritional composition and environmental footprints of 1,000 recipes from Sichuan and Cantonese cuisines, two of the most influential and widely consumed culinary traditions in China. We combine ingredient-level nutritional analysis with life cycle assessments that account for emissions, land use, and water consumption across production, transportation, and cooking. Our data reveal large intra-cuisine variation in health and sustainability metrics, shaped by ingredient combinations and cooking techniques. By aligning real-world culinary practices with quantitative sustainability metrics, this dataset lays the groundwork for culturally grounded dietary transitions and supports a new generation of food policy, public guidance, and behavioral research rooted in dietary habits.