It's only two weeks to launch and things are really picking up speed in the Sustainable Restaurant Association office. New Member Restaurants, Friends of the SRA, plans for our launch party and an exciting new website...
TWO WEEKS TO LAUNCH! We're getting ready for a week of exciting events starting with Hotelympia (28 February-4 March) at Excel. This is a huge exhibition including more than 1,000 exhibitors geared to the restaurant and catering trade and over 40,000 attendees. This year, it includes a new event: the
Sustainable Hospitality Conference on Tuesday 2 March. The conference is designed to kick start internal discussion about why and how companies should start making changes that are good for the environment, give what customers they want and can improve the bottom line.
If you're interested in making your restaurant sustainable, want to sign up as a Member, become a "Friend of the SRA" (yes, diners can join too!), or just fancy a chat, we can't wait to meet you. We'll be at the stand for the full five days, with lots of friendly faces, expert advice, Fairtrade coffee and delicious Divine chocolate ...watch this space or check the
SRA Twitter page for regular updates throughout the event.
"WE'RE AT THE PARTY"
And the excitement doesn't stop there. We're also adding the final touches to plans for our official launch party on 1 March. It may be just another Monday night in for some, but over at the
Sanctum Soho Hotel, the Sustainable Restaurant Association team plus our Advisory Board, partners and supporters, Members and "Friends of the SRA" will be nibbling on canapés, chinking glasses and spreading the word - all sustainably, of course.
We wouldn't settle for anything less than a fabulously fun and glamorous party. But there's a serious slant too. The evening provides a great opportunity for restaurants and sustainable experts to get together face-to-face and discuss the very real potential of a fully sustainable UK restaurant industry.
FIELD LEADER: EL BULLI
Sustainability is often about turning potentially negative situations on their head, or using them to catalyse great ideas. On this note we were sad to hear about the forthcoming closure of Spain's three-Michelin starred El Bulli, potentially at the end of 2011. But we're really excited about Ferran Adrià's plans to reopen as a non-profit cooking foundation offering scholarships to the world's most talented chefs and providing 'a place for free thinking and kicking around ideas'. According to
The Guardian: 'Adrià has given himself two years to think about what the new foundation will do. "We are open to suggestions," he said. But he is absolutely sure it will involve cooking and serving food on El Bulli's hallowed premises.' We look forward to reporting more on that.
JOIN OUR FOUNDER MEMBERS
Our Founder Members club is filling up fast, new Members (since our last e-bulletin) include
Benares,
Cubitt House,
Inn on the Green,
Sanctum Hotel Restaurant,
The Duke of Cambridge,
Le Manoir aux Quat Saisons and
Tsuru Sushi plus many more with their pens poised.
We're really pleased that there's such a diverse range of restaurants signing up and hope to welcome more and more of you both before and after our launch. Remember, restaurants that join before 1st March will be automatically registered as Founder Members. If you'd like to join, drop us an email on
hello@thesra.org or call 020 7479 4224.
TASTE OF TED We can't wait to share our online newsfeed with you. In the meantime, we'll keep feeding stories through our e-bulletin...
First up, we wanted to flag up Dan Barber's speech at this year's
TED Conference (9-13 Feb, Long Beach, California), cited as best in show. The NY chef and local food champion chose to focus on what real 'fish farming' can be - and how beneficial it can be to us, fish, wetlands, birds and the water. The video link for his fish tale isn't online yet but you can catch Barber's equally passionate
Foie Gras Parable while you're waiting.
TED2010 also played host to our very own Jamie Oliver, who presented this year's
Prize Wish: "I wish for your help to create a strong, sustainable movement to educate every child about food, inspire families to cook again and empower people everywhere to fight obesity." We're with you on that Jamie!
BAGS OF TASTE... AND LESS WASTE We've also got bags of time for our new word of the week:
Bagriculture. A new concept in urban agriculture, it reduces waste by reusing polypropylene construction material bags. The bags are then filled with soil to create mini urban allotments - or large ones, depending how much room you have on your roof, patio or patch of concrete. Hey presto: fresh, local food on your doorstep, no digging required and an ingenious way to reconnect with the land, even in the middle of the city.
Another inspiring initiative we've been reading about is Last Minute - a
360° Action Against Waste. It links shops and producers with surplus food, with people and charities that need it. Originating in Bologna, the project is now active in more than 40 Italian towns, with two new projects under development in Argentina and Brazil. Reducing food waste can significantly help combat landfill pile-up, environmental damage, water pollution and hunger. Could UK restaurants join together and initiate a similar scheme? Write in and let us know what you think.
JOIN THE DEBATE We're also back on the 'should we eat less meat' debate, after last week's Cranfield University study commissioned by the World Wildlife Fund. As reported by
The Times, the study found that many meat substitutes are produced from soy, chickpeas and lentils that are grown overseas and imported into Britain. Plus it reported that a lot of meat substitutes tend to be highly processed and involve energy-intensive production methods.
On this premise, the report suggests that switching from beef and lamb reared in Britain to imported meat substitutes could result in greater environmental damage. Newspaper coverage revisited the uproar created among livestock farmers last October, when Lord Stern claimed that a vegetarian diet was better for the planet.
It's an important debate that looks set to rage on. We think the Times is guilty of a little selective reporting, picking up on the part of the report dealing with highly refined meat substitutes such as tofu and ignoring the clear environmental benefits of more obvious "meat substitutes" like unprocessed vegetables. We don't blame them though, as long as it gets people talking. More restaurants need to get involved, have their say and encourage customers to do the same.
GOING GREEN On the lighter side of vegetarian cuisine, we're looking forward to checking out Aldo Zilli's new vegetarian restaurant
Zilli Green. 'Quality seasonal dishes with vegetables naturally sourced from trusted local producers', delicious homemade pasta and all just around the corner from our offices - we're at the table!
We've also booked in to see Robert Kenner's
Food Inc, featuring interviews with Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation) and Michael Pollan (In the Defense of Food). More on that next time when we'll also be celebrating our launch!
In the meantime, please pass our news on to any interested parties. Stop by for a chat on the
SRA twitter page or, if you're ready to become a Founder Member, give us a call on 0207 479 4224.
Thanks for your continued support.
