To cooks everywhere:

Please, please, please! Stop, stop, stop using all that plastic wrap! It benefits only the petroleum industry and it is destroying the creatures of our oceans and waterways; when they see it in the water, they consume what they think is jellyfish or seaweed or tiny water life, and then they starve to death with stomachs full of plastic. Please stop destroying our planet!

Use bowls, plates, casserole dishes and other washable containers to hold food, or rest dough under an upside-down bowl. Cover bowls with plates, saucers, pan lids, pie plates or baking dishes. Use biodegradable waxed paper or recyclable foil to wrap foods or cover pans. Cover resting food such as rising dough with washable dish towels.

Not only is plastic wrap toxic to aquatic life, it is made from petroleum byproducts, adding to global climate change. Don’t you want your grandchildren to inherit a world as beautiful and diverse as the one we know? I do!

Please take your role in leading and training cooks everywhere seriously, and model responsible behavior.

Jane Lauder King

Kennebunk