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Humans have been cooking with fire for . But, with concerns over greenhouse gas emissions rising, some cities are banning natural gas in the kitchens of the future, and creating a policy dilemma: Can we slow global warming and still eat well?

Dozens of jurisdictions from Brookline, Massachusetts, to San Francisco have moved to ban new gas hookups for heating and cooking, and New York City 聽brought its heft to the trend, setting restrictions on fossil fuel usage in new buildings by phasing in emissions limits beginning next year.

Culinary angst over the bans among those who find flame cooking superior has sparked a blowback of bans on the bans.聽Some聽聽and at least 19 states have passed laws to prevent municipalities from restricting new natural gas connections.聽Also behind these actions: gas-industry lobbying for 鈥溾�澛燼nd broader legislative tussling along party lines.

鈥淲ith all the progress that we鈥檝e made over the last 10 years or so in terms of changes to the electrical grid with the shift away from coal, it鈥檚 now becoming the case that the next sector that should be the obvious target of policies to reduce emissions has changed,鈥� says Jonathan Buonocore, research scientist at Harvard University鈥檚 T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Natural gas is now a key target, he says.

Pollution and safety concerns

Methane, released from natural gas systems, accounts for about , a pollutant that contributes to climate change, according to the . Concerns also about natural gas as an indoor air pollution source.

A clean energy advocacy group, RMI, that by 2040, the New York City bill could eliminate the equivalent amount of a year鈥檚 worth of emissions from 450,000 cars.聽聽

While the natural gas contribution to the emissions problem may seem small compared with emissions for transportation (the largest contributor), those places instituting gas hookup bans are only banning use of gas in new construction. In California, for example, 26聽jurisdictions have passed laws to require 鈥渁ll-electric鈥� construction, including Berkeley, Oakland, and San Francisco, though some exceptions to 鈥渁ll-electric鈥� exist for commercial cooking.

鈥淵ou build a new building and it鈥檚 there for 50, maybe 100 years,鈥� says Mark Specht, a senior energy analyst at the Union of Concerned Scientists. The idea behind the NYC ban and similar bans in California is simple, he adds. 鈥淚f you put in the infrastructure for gas hookups, then you run the risk of locking in continued gas use for decades and decades down the road.鈥�

Restaurant chefs mount some of the strongest objections to the gas bans, even though they will still be able to use gas in buildings where hookups already exist.

鈥淚f you want to start a restaurant that uses natural gas sources for cooking, there are lots and lots of buildings in New York City that can accommodate,鈥� says Amy Turner, senior fellow at the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia Law School, 鈥渏ust not brand new buildings.鈥�

Still, the model from the nation鈥檚 largest city could be 鈥渉ugely influential鈥� for other cities and states looking to enact similar legislation to slash emissions, Ms. Turner says.聽(And New York Gov. Kathy Hochul this month announced her support for a statewide gas ban.)

SOURCE:

S&P Global Market Intelligence

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Jacob Turcotte/Staff

鈥淵ou just couldn鈥檛 have the menu that we have [without gas],鈥� says Tony Palermo, co-owner of Tony P鈥檚 Dockside Grill in Marina Del Rey, California. A chef for more than 50 years, he likes the way the gas burners can sear a steak, cook it evenly, and provide reliable heat.

U.S. census suggests that gas fuel for cooking is used in about 40% of American homes, and those most vocal about it suggest how powerfully a cultural tradition like cooking can come to bear on public policy. Many may see the larger picture of environmental responsibility of reducing emissions聽from natural gas used to heat buildings or to power electrical production, but some objections at the grassroots level聽boil down to the attachment to cooking over fire.聽聽

The taste for flame-kissed food is ancient

鈥淥ur tastes have been shaped through the generations by food cooked by direct flames,鈥� Willow Mullins, professor of folklore and ethnology at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland,聽explained in an email interview.聽鈥淎s a result, there鈥檚 a cultural distrust towards other ways of cooking in which we can鈥檛 see the fire, even if we know they work.鈥�

One of those other ways, powered by electricity, is the precise but pricey .

Ms. Mullins adds that even when those other forms of cooking are used, 鈥渨e still go looking for signs of the kiss of flame, the char on meat, the crunch of bacon, the Maillard reaction. It鈥檚 so ingrained, that sous vide cooks will add it later with a kitchen torch.鈥�

鈥淚t would just be a period of acclimating鈥� for gas cooking aficionados because there are good gas-free electric ranges, suggests Nora Singley, a professional food stylist who splits her time between California and New York and prefers the controlled heat gas cooking offers.聽聽

For some amateur chefs, like Beth Beeman, a San Clemente, California, resident who doesn鈥檛 have a gas hookup, cooking on a gas stove is appealing. 鈥淒on鈥檛 get me wrong, I鈥檓 very supportive of environmentally sensitive and friendly actions,鈥� she says.聽鈥淔rom a cooking perspective, I would give my right arm to have a gas stove.鈥澛犅�

鈥淭here鈥檚 certainly a lot of allure to gas stoves,鈥� says Stephen Pantano, chief research officer at CLASP, a nongovernmental organization focused on the climate benefits of efficient appliances and an amateur chef himself, who cooks on electric. But, even beside the new laws, individuals, too, have a role to play.聽 聽

鈥淚t needs to be more in the forefront of people鈥檚 awareness because it鈥檚 something much like the car where people have personal decisions to make that can really make a big difference over time,鈥� he says.