Young George

• WHO: Melissa Palinkas & Suse Whelan, owners
• WHAT: A suburban neighbourhood Freo bar that says no to waste
• WHERE: 48 George Street, East Fremantle, Western Australia

“In 2017 we made the decision to do away with disposable plastic. We invested in poly carbonate and BPV free containers for our food storage, as well as ceasing to use plastic straws.

“We have a no-waste policy and re-purpose wherever possible. This allows us to create interesting new flavour profiles for cocktails in the bar and for our food – whether it be drying out the woody stalks of oyster mushrooms grown from coffee grounds which we then turn into our own togarashi seasoning, to drawing bitterness out of juiced lime skins and cooking them down with sugar to make a lime skin curd for a cocktail.

“We mostly work directly with local farmers and growers. Working seasonally ensures better quality and when its grown locally, it’s fresher as it hasn't travelled or been in cold storage. A lot of what we do at Young George is based around using sustainable produce such as lesser-known fish species and by-catch.

“Our passion is to deliver a unique product in a comfortable vibe that keeps people coming back for more. Our food philosophy is experimental, using only the best in-season local Western Australian produce and working nose-to-tail with a no-waste policy.”

To read more about Young George, visit their Truth, Love & Clean Cutlery profile here.

Samuay & Sons

• WHO: Weerawat ‘Num’ Triyasenawat, chef/owner
• WHAT: Contemporary Isaan cuisine inspired by seasonal local produce in Udon Thani, northeast Thailand
• WHERE: 133/25 Phonpisai Rd. Mhakkhang, Mueng, Udon Thani, Thailand

“We are a seasonally-driven restaurant and work hard to source organic ingredients and support farmers within Thailand.

“We are very proud to serve locally-farmed rice. There are so many types of rice in Thailand that people do not know even exist. This is the reason we choose to cook a different rice every month – to tell the story behind it. Jasmine rice became the dominant rice that farmers planted because there was high demand from other countries. For this reason, many types of local rice began to disappear over the last sixty years until small groups of rice farming communities tried to bring it back.

“We have also been developing a system to reduce food waste by using fermentation techniques wherever possible. We believe it's time for us all to take care of the environment. We want to communicate this to our diners through our cooking philosophy and persuade them to care about more than just delicious food when they dine at restaurants."

To read more about Samuay & Sons, visit their Truth, Love & Clean Cutlery profile here.

Samuay & Sons (Udon Thani, Thailand)

Trorkuon

• WHO: Tim Pheak, chef
• WHAT: Restrained contemporary Cambodian cuisine served in a stylish boutique hotel dining room
• WHERE: Jaya House River Park boutique hotel, Riverside Road, Siem Reap, Cambodia

“Jaya House RiverPark has been partnering with Coola-Products and together took a lead on dealing with plastic waste in Cambodia. More than forty members of Siem Reap’s hospitality and tourism industries and development sector have joined and launched ReFill Not Landfill, with the aim to cut down on the millions of plastic water bottles discarded throughout South-East Asia each year by offering an alternative: reusable stainless steel and aluminium bottles. Our informal consortium hopes to revolutionize the way that tourists consume water in a country where few plastic containers are recycled, with most ending up in mountainous landfills or piling up beside roads, choking the regions waterways and littering fields with waste.

"We place a strong emphasis on environmental and sustainability initiatives. Our used cooking oil is re-used by NAGA Earth and turned into bio-diesel. We have also started to experiment with hydroponics, and water used in our kitchen undergoes reverse osmosis. We buy our bamboo straws from two locals in the Bayon temple complex – both of whom are landmine victims – thereby securing jobs and an income for those two men. We are also reducing the use of plastic along the supply chain and therefore request that our suppliers abolish plastic and deliver using linen bags.”

To read more about Trorkuon, visit their Truth, Love & Clean Cutlery profile here.

Trorkuon (Siem Reap, Cambodia)

The Wheatsheaf

• WHO: Ollie & Lauren Hunter, co-owners
• WHAT: Grade II-listed pub selling organic, seasonal, local food & drink & voted as Britain's most sustainable pub in the SRA's 2018 Food Made Good Awards
• WHERE: Chilton Foliat, Hungerford, Wiltshire, UK

“The majority of our produce at The Wheatsheaf is organic – great for us and great for the land. We are constantly reading and researching new information that can aid in healthier food. We adapt recipes to encompass new techniques but keep to our ethos of local, seasonal and organic.

“All chemicals and toiletries that we use are environmentally friendly, all waste is recycled where possible and food waste is separated and either composted on site, or removed by Olleco to be converted into energy. We have blackboards throughout the pub, so we have cut down on paper by 95 per cent, we reuse all old receipts to create waiter pads and reuse paper in the kitchen to write down prep lists – all the paper that we use is recycled.

“As voted by the SRA we are the most sustainable pub in Britain and have also been awarded three Organic Served Here stars by Soil Association Certification for our commitment to organic food. We collect over £4000 a year by adding a voluntary £1 to the bill per table – last year we focused on our village school, and this year we are donating to Carbon Footprint.”

News:

Congratulations to Ollie Hunter who has a new cookbook coming out in January 2020 with Pavilion titled 30 Easy Ways to Join the Food Revolution – a guide for everyone on how to become an amazing sustainability ambassador! We love the striking cover design by Evie O Studio.

30 Easy Ways to Join the Food Revolution (cover illustration by Evie O Studio)

To read more about The Wheatsheaf, visit their Truth, Love & Clean Cutlery profile here.

The Wheatsheaf (Chilton Foliat, Hungerford, Wiltshire, UK_

Haervaerk

• WHO: Rune Lund & Emil Bahr, chefs & Mads Schriver, owner
• WHAT: Small owner-driven restaurant with a changing menu
• WHERE: Frederiks Allé 105, 8000 Aarhus, Denmark

“Everything is 100 per cent organic at Haervaerk and we have organic gold mark certification so we can do our part in giving back to nature.

“We only serve sustainably-caught fish in the restaurant and try to source some of the lesser-wanted seafood such as beach crabs, which are very invasive and a huge environmental problem here in Aarhus.

“All of our farmers are organic, so they are very sustainable and hold biodiversity in high regard. They move their animals around to turn the vegetable fields when they harvest, so it all works in a cycle. The animals give the earth nourishment, and in turn the earth brings the animals their nourishment. We feel that this in turn gives us a better product.

“Furthermore, we get all of our fish, beef, pork, and game whole, and use everything on the animal. That’s part of the reason for the everchanging menu. Some days we work through a specific part of the animal, and maybe there is enough for two days, but when that part is used, we change the dish according to the new cut.”

To read more about Haervaerk, visit their Truth, Love & Clean Cutlery profile here.

Haervaerk (Aarhus, Denmark)

Vicia

• WHO: Michael Gallina, chef/partner & Tara Gallina, partner
• WHAT: Vegetable-forward, farmer-driven restaurant celebrating the daily bounty of the midwest
• WHERE: 4260 Forest Park Avenue, St. Louis, Missouri, USA

“We love to share the bounty of what’s grown with care by small farmers around our community. We make vegetables the star of each dish, flipping the common perspective of protein-first cuisine.

“Reducing food waste is an important principal to us at Vicia. We compost any food waste from the dining room, create falafel out of juice-pulp scraps, make vinegars and powders from peels, pickle anything we can't use and make pesto from yellowing or pock-marked vegetable tops.

“At a minimum, 80 per cent of the ingredients we serve in our restaurant are grown and produced locally. We have an edible garden that surrounds our restaurant where we grow fruits, herbs and flowers that we feature on our dishes and seasonal cocktails. We have a partnership with several local farms that grow a unique mix of vegetables exclusively for the restaurant, in addition we purchase their imperfect, bolted, or unwanted harvests as a commitment to supporting the entire farming operation.

To read more about Vicia, visit their Truth, Love & Clean Cutlery profile here.

Vicia (St. Louis, Missouri, USA)

Hogget Kitchen

• WHO: Trevor Perkins, chef/owner
• WHAT: Regional restaurant singing in the key of Gippsland
• WHERE: 6 Farrington Close, Warragul, Victoria, Australia

“We only use tank water here at the restaurant, collecting rain water off all of the roofs and the winery. We do not import or buy bottled water and supply guests with filtered still or sparkling thus reducing the waste element of one purpose bottles. All meat that we buy comes from ethical farms and is processed at our local abattoir in Warragul, thereby reducing food miles. The dairy milk we source is organic Fleckvieh milk and we use the by-products of dairy to make bread and dessert items such as whey caramel and whey breads. We do not grade our produce and see all produce without having imperfections – what we buy is what we get. With our garden we love the unique shapes of all vegetables and fruit that come through each season and use every single item.

“We are working with a local cheese-maker to age our own cheese here at Hogget Kitchen. This gives us the opportunity to age the cheese specifically to how we would like our guests to enjoy it and to provide them with an array of beautiful aged cheeses to taste.

“We use paper straws, our business cards and menus are made from 100 per cent recycled paper and we collect all used-paper and send it to a local school to use as art/drawing paper – as well as for use in our fireplace. We compost all of our green and coffee waste for use in our onsite garden and we pick-up most of our deliveries which are en-route to work. Additionally, we are working with organizations such as the Baw Baw Food Hub where multiple farmers have their produce delivered to one location. This is where we go to get our other vegetable and fruit supplies – at the same time dropping off the bread we bake for them weekly.”

To read more about Hogget Kitchen, visit their Truth, Love & Clean Cutlery profile here.

Hogget Kitchen (Warragul, Victoria, Australia)