DOING THE RIGHT THING

Chefs, farmers and organizations are working collaboratively for both planet and human health //

By Amanda Baltazar

Chefs are paying attention to the environment, and that focus is taking many forms. They’re reducing waste, supporting regenerative agriculture or simply sourcing better products.

They’re doing it not only because it’s the right thing to do but also because it’s resonating with diners. According to technology company IBM, 70% of consumers will pay 35% more for sustainable options.

Regenerative Agriculture

Regenerative agriculture is considered one of the biggest solutions to climate change, but what is it?

Put simply, it’s a way of farming that aims to create healthy soil through a circular system, whereby land is well-managed and cared for. Healthy soil leads to more nutritious food and can capture more carbon from the air. This differs slightly from organic farming, which simply means not using harmful chemicals such as pesticides and herbicides.

Farmer Lee Jones, a presenter at the ACF National Convention this year, is a farmer at The Chef’s Garden in Huron, Ohio. He’s been farming regeneratively for more than 35 years — as long as he’s been selling to chefs.

“People are coming here because they want to support family farms doing things the right way,” he says.

And while it may be counterintuitive to ship vegetables — albeit regeneratively grown veggies — across the country, Jones says it’s necessary, for now. “We need to be able to do enough business to stay in business and grow product the right way.”

Beyond the environmental benefits of regenerative agriculture, food grown this way is also better for humans, he says. The nutritional content of produce has declined 50% to 80% since 1920, according to Jones. He’s working to change that in what he grows, planting specific species of vegetables to replace missing minerals in the soil. “It’s working in harmony with nature rather than trying to replace it,” he says.

Zero Foodprint

Anthony Myint and Karen Leibowitz established Zero Foodprint, a nonprofit aiming to mobilize climate change solutions, in 2014 with the goal of supporting regenerative agriculture.

Almost 100 restaurants are now signed up with the San Francisco-based nonprofit, mostly independently operated businesses but also a Subway franchise in Colorado.

These restaurants typically add 1% to diners’ checks, and that money goes toward supporting regenerative and sustainable farmers and ranchers. So, for example, say the check was $100. It would become $101, but diners can ask for the 1% to be removed (although they rarely do). Other restaurants have other methods, such as raising overall menu prices by 1%.

Almost all of a restaurant’s carbon footprint comes from the ingredients it uses, Myint says, with more carbon footprint coming from conventional meat and products shipped great distances. Of course, gas equipment, hoods and other factors do come into play.

San Francisco-based Flour+Water Hospitality Group operates two restaurants and a pasta shop and is committed to sustainable sourcing and practices.

The reasons are twofold: for the health of the planet, “but we also want to put the best possible products out in the restaurant,” says Vice President and Co-Executive Chef Ryan Pollnow

It’s very important to Chef Pollnow and his founding partner, Chef Thomas McNaughton , co-executive chef and CEO, to support Zero Foodprint. “We’re being part of the solution,” he says.

The company buys produce from small local farms and has transitioned to organic products. And there are benefits to the restaurant, too, beyond knowing it’s doing the right thing: “A carrot is not just a carrot,” Chef McNaughton says. “There’s an intensity of flavor that comes from produce grown in healthy soil.”

It’s an important practice at Flour+Water to use every part of each fruit and vegetable. The company does this through various methods. For example, chefs use discarded pits from peaches and other stone fruits (with some of the fruit flesh still attached) to make vinegar. The chefs also prefer a natural look to vegetables instead of traditional dice cuts, for full utilization, and they pickle any excess veggies. “We honor that produce,” Chef Pollnow says.

It requires a lot more flexibility to run a restaurant company this way. “That’s why we have constantly changing menus,” Chef McNaughton says.

It’s a lot of work. “On every given night,” he says, “we could be emailing five or eight farms just to get produce in the next few days. [But] putting in that extra work is worth it when the end result is supporting people and helping them raise products in a sustainable manner.”

No Stone Unturned

Eco-conscious cooking is Chef Daniel Asher’s passion. He’s the executive chef/partner at Working Title Food Group, which has five restaurants in Colorado and one in Idaho, and is chef/founder of EcoChef Culinary, a catering and consulting company.

He ties his passion for the environment into every single thing he does. “I have a high level of stewardship for all the tiny micro decisions that create a successful experience for the guest. I look at who we are purchasing ingredients from, what’s their story, their mission and purpose and how does that tie into us and wellness of the planet, people and our food systems.”

And that, he says, is exciting for a chef. “That’s where true creativity is: how to take something you’d normally discard and use it for something that has value. Herb stems, vegetable trimmings and other plant parts can be easily incorporated into sauces, crackers, breads, pestos; and potato peelings can be oven-dried and seasoned to be used as a crispy salad topping or bar snack.”

It’s extremely important to Chef Asher to source properly, or “obsessively,” as he says. He looks for people nearby who are doing the right thing, be it in raising animals, growing vegetables, making products without GMOs or just being local so that shipping is eliminated or reduced. And he looks for artisans he can work with, too. For example, he buys his ketchup from Elevation Ketchup, whose products are small-batch and made with local ingredients, which means he’s supporting an artisan company while saving time on making ketchup himself.

“You have all these amazing connections in your community,” Chef Asher says. “It’s all about building those threads and having a dialogue about how we can sustain each other.”

Planet Health Education

ACF Chef/Instructor Branden J. Lewis, Ed.D., CEC, Johnson & Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island, has spearheaded a new degree program devoted to sustainable food systems.

The Sustainable Food Systems four year major was developed for J&W students who want to make a difference in food systems. The major involves studying the environmental, social, economic and political elements of sustainability and issues such as food equity, food waste and social justice. Students opting for this major might end up in careers as food strategists, policy makers, nonprofit professionals, sustainability officers or something similar.

Some students opt to combine the Sustainable Food Systems major with a minor in culinary sustainability, which appeals mostly to students wanting to be chefs. This helps them be aware of everything from the food chain to packaging, Chef Lewis says. “Those are humongous skill sets that employers today are looking for.”

It’s not just about food, he adds, but about treating people right and paying fair wages. “We’re teaching [our students] not to be a top-down leader but a partner in their community and working within their food system’s capacity to endure.”

It’s essential to teach students to care for our planet through sustainability, careful sourcing, reducing waste and all other systems, Chef Lewis says. “This program gives you a moral compass when you’re a chef.”

Classical

Chef Andre Ellis, CEC , an ACF certified evaluator, a member of the Southwestern Virginia chapter and the executive chef of the Lynchburg, Virginiabased Boonsboro Country Club for the last 18 years, chose to showcase a classic Jamaican oxtail stew from his heritage. “Around Christmas time, this would be a dish we eat, along with jerk chicken and curry goat,” says Chef Ellis, a native of St. Anne, Jamaica, who immigrated to the U.S. 23 years ago (joining the staff at Boonsboro around that time) after working at major hotels in Kingston and Montego Bay. At the club, “It’s great to be able to keep this tradition alive.” Not to mention, he adds, more clients have been requesting the oxtail dish. To make it, Chef Ellis first rinses the oxtail with cool running water and tosses the oxtail in lemon juice and distilled vinegar (an old habit from Jamaica to remove any potential bacteria and also add flavor). He then combines chopped carrots, onions, scallions, garlic, fresh thyme, ginger, salt, pepper, brown sugar, a bit of scotch bonnet pepper and oil with the meat and lets the mixture marinate for at least an hour or two before browning everything in the oven. Draining the meat and veggies from the rendered fat, Chef Ellis then adds the mixture to a big pot over a hot skillet, adding filtered water for a two- to threehour braise. Toward the end of the cooking, Chef Ellis adds some pre-soaked, precooked (or canned) lima beans (broad butter beans as they’re referred to in Jamaica), which helps thicken the stew. The tender meat and vegetables are traditionally served with a side of sauteed cabbage, steamed white rice and fried plantains.

Modern

For a modern deconstructed Jamaican oxtail dish , Chef Ellis debones the oxtail, seasoning the meat with salt, pepper, garlic, a little paprika, fresh thyme, scotch bonnet pepper and scallions before rolling up the mixture in a cylinder shape, vacuum-sealing and sous vide cooking it for six hours at 135 F. The sauce is made in a manner similar to its classical counterpart, but here, Chef Ellis uses discarded bones from the oxtail. “I brown the bone off with mirepoix, then deglaze the pot with red wine and add beef stock, thickening [the stock] with a little agar.” For plating, Chef Ellis separately purees cooked butter beans and carrots and creates a disc out of alternating “lines” of the purees using piping bags; he then freezes the disc, thawing slightly before plating. That becomes the base, topped with the cooked oxtail and paired with a slice of fried plantain and some coconut-turmeric rice made by cooking rice in coconut water, coconut milk, salt, pepper, turmeric and curry spice. He fills a leaf mold with cooked cassava root for another garnish, paired with microgreens, radish slices and edible orchids for extra color.

For recipes, visit wearechefs.com