December 2019
The good news is that more and more restaurants are spending time and effort trying to find more sustainable food sources, eliminate food waste, and conserve resources.
Sadly, it’s still not so easy to find out how well an individual restaurant is doing or, indeed, if they are doing anything at all.
However, here are some tools to spot sustainable offers to help you getting started:
SPOTTING SUSTAINABLE RESTAURANTS
Below you find a couple of apps, that help you spot sustainable restaurants.
The listed restaurants make an effort to serve more sustainable food, curb waste and conserve resources.
Green Table helps you find sustainable restaurants by ranking them by use of local/regional products, social engagement, environmental friendliness, etc.
Happy Cow helps locate restaurants and healthy food shops that are vegan/vegetarian.
Noshplanet lists sustainable cafés and restaurants with user reviews, and expands its database through user recommendations.
The Sustainable Restaurant Association provides advice and accreditation, as well as their ‘Food Made Good’ rating under their own sustainability framework of ‘Sourcing, Society & Environment’
Vanilla Bean lists thousands of vegan restaurants in various countries, per city.
Vegman is a worldwide directory for vegetarian/vegan restaurants
You find more tips on the web, such as:
Goodfoodmap, Green Pearls Restaurants, Ocean-Friendly Restaurants, etc.
Please share with us more tips! We are all ears.
CHOOSING DISHES
When you're sitting in a restaurant, you can't always control exactly what's on your plate and where it came from. But, there are a few rules of thumb that can give you a little more control over what you are served, helping you to make more sustainable choices. Here they are:
It’s a good sign if a menu lists the restaurant’s suppliers. Servers can also be asked.
There are a number of sustainable questions surrounding the choices of your order:
🥚🥚🥚Eggs
Does the restaurant know the farm, are they organic, and from dual-purpose hens?
🦀🦐🐟Seafood
Does it come from sustainable fisheries or local catches, is it certified, or is it on the red list?
🐄🐏🐖🍗Meat
Is it organic, game or clean meat? Also check if there is an edible insect or plant-based alternative.
🥛🍦🍰Dairy
Is it organic, or are there any plant-based alternatives?
🍎🥕Fruit & Veg
Is the produce local, organic or in season? You could also ask if they are from a vertical farm.
🥂☕Beverages
Is the water sourced nationally, is the coffee certified organic and fair, and are the soft drinks regional? Always opt for tap water – some places might offer sparkling tap water too – and bring your own reusable cup when taking away hot drinks.
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