green eats

This weekend I had the very unique experience of catering a dinner at the home of a prominent - indeed famous - businessman who has probably done more for the organic, natural, green, and even standard beauty industry than anyone. I've mentioned the name in passing but I'll refrain from either doing that or providing any private details here out of sheer respect. My point in telling the story is that my beau's restaurant was contacted to create the menu and provide the dinner, with the twist that it be as organic as possible. Twisty twisty indeed!

Now, let's also mention here that the restaurant in question is a fabulous Japanese restaurant (obvious bias intended) with a quite loyal following. But it's certainly not professing itself to be green. The food of Japan may have its green tendencies, but preparing and selling it in the Midwest isn't always as ecologically sound as one might hope.

In my time together with the chef, I have learned a lot about Japanese cuisine. Lest we think me an expert, however, know that this particular well runs deep. It will probably take me years to figure it all out. The culture and food of this amazing country is thousands of years rich, but recently we've all become more aware of the health benefits inherent within. My limited study of books such as The Blue Zones and Japanese Women Don't Get Old or Fat: Secrets of My Mother's Tokyo Kitchen has highlighted the benefits of eating this way. My personal experience with Japanese food has revealed a very nice alignment with my own beliefs about food: quality, fresh ingredients; simplicity in preparation; beautiful presentation; plant-focused with fresh fish and so forth.

The trick here - as with so many other facets of our lives - is reconciling our values and intentions with the availability of ingredients. Or in the case of running a restaurant, stepping up and stomaching the transition and ongoing costs of being greener. The nature of a Japanese restaurant doesn't lend itself well to using local food suppliers, as we're not catching bluefin in the Mississippi these days (uh, yuck). But there are small steps restaurants can make. And it all starts with awareness. Sound familiar?

A few little examples of how we started: Two of our event chefs shopped at a local organic co-op for produce and other standard ingredients. A third chef availed herself of organic sweet potatoes from Whole Foods. I went about finding sustainable - and beautiful - bamboo chopsticks that would hold their own in this amazing gallery home. We brought a load of our own towels to eliminate the need for paper towels. We checked to be sure the fish was sustainably farmed or caught. It was a start. But we had to ship in top-of-the-line traditional Japanese ingredients (think kombu, bonito, nori) that can't be found here. Thankfully they are dried and light as a feather, so not as carbon-footprint-impacting to ship. Yet, the fish came from afar.

But the real revelations happened later. My chef gleefully admitted that even though the price was considerably higher, the organic goods simply tasted better. And this man has a palate for food, wine, sake, etc that I can't even contemplate. So I knew that he really meant it. We both laughed as we packed up the food and supplies that we were about to alight in this man's very green home with all this plastic packaging and wrap and perhaps they'd just take the food and chuck us back out past the security gate. We were more than just a little aware at that moment. I think you'd call it ashamed.

In his beautiful commercial kitchen we found only green cleaning products, his own line of hand cleansers, and under counter bins for recyclables and compost. There were paper towels and napkins, but primarily there were lots of washable linens. Organic aromas were sprayed throughout the house. The whole place just felt green. I felt a little greener for just having showed up.

I think we all walked away from the experience with some questions in our heads. Could we do better? Could the restaurant? There's lots to learn and again, I'm intrigued enough to go further. I can't wait to learn more. And I'll see if I can get him in a bamboo chefs jacket soon...


Found a couple of great articles by way of the Green Restaurant Association:
A Tall Order of Green
Going Out to Eat, but Staying Green


(Disclosure: am I a caterer? No, I'm really not. I was mostly doing this to help my boyfriend. Can you say cheap labor?! But I did work for a catering company during college and have more experience in every facet of that business than I'd care to admit or even clearly remember. I also have done my fair share of event planning throughout my marketing career. And let's face it, I'm a picky biatch. I can plan the details to the nth degree and crank out a beautiful table. I simply love entertaining. With these wonderful chefs around me all the time, I get very tempted to go back that way again.)