Apathy and inaction are easy to fall back on when you feel overwhelmed by the state of the world. That's doubly so when it comes to navigating the increasingly turbulent climate crises impacting the restaurant industry right now. From the literal and figurative storms forcing many businesses to shutter due to heat wave-driven power outages, hurricanes disrupting supply chains, and rapidly rising temperatures wreaking havoc on farming systems and devastating crops worldwide, the challenges to sustaining an environmentally conscious restaurant seem ever higher and more complex than ever.
In contrast, there's something so captivating and galvanizing in seeing restaurant workers, chefs, and farmers actively working to both care for their colleagues while proving that a path forward can be more than empty optimism and greenwashing. That's why we partnered with Civil Eats on a five-part series called Climate on the Menu, highlighting how climate change is prompting a tangible shift in the hospitality industry's relationships with farms, the shapes of supply chains, how labor conditions in kitchens impact workers, and so much more.
But before your eyes glaze over and you get back to your doctor-denounced, daily dose of doomscrolling, let me be clear: This isn't the man-behind-the-curtain, Wicked-style production that big brands with oil corporation ties might trot out. Nor is it a self-indulgent spiral into decision paralysis and fatigue. Rather, this is a deep and earnest exploration of the people and businesses who strive daily to make the world a slightly better, greener, and less wasteful place, from neighborhood haunts like Yardy Rum Bar in Eugene, Oregon, to Washington, D.C.'s swanky vegan and vegetarian restaurant Oyster Oyster, all the way up to international chains like Starbucks, where even the most grassroots changes driven by on-the-ground workers can lead to impactful progress. It sounds obvious and painfully simple, but there are so many nuanced considerations that go into every single ingredient that makes its way to your plate, from regeneratively farmed greens to the oyster mushrooms that shifted how ambitious restaurateurs approach and embrace fungi. (And yes, restaurants even have a little bit of fun with them. Sorry!)
Along the way, you'll also get clear, unflinching looks at the conditions workers face, the ingredient and farming limitations that restaurants must accommodate, and the jaw-dropping costs that come with constantly adapting to an inhospitable climate. Still, the focus lies on the actionable realities of how chefs and restaurant workers are actively creating new pathways for securing environmentally sustainable ingredients, while finding new opportunities for menu innovation that goes beyond simply shopping from a farmers market down the block. As stories continue rolling out over the next few weeks, we hope they bring a new light to the undaunted persistence of the countless people, businesses, and communities redefining what a climate-conscious restaurant actually is, and raising the standards for what it means to truly be sustainable even in the face of the unpredictable.
Apathy is easy; unwavering action, however, is much more difficult, yet all the more fruitful. — Jesse Sparks, Eater.com senior editor
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