Globetrotting with a Gourmand: Sustainable Dining
by Sandi Todorovich, Luxury Travel Advisor
Photo Credit: Azurmendi Restaurant
For Earth Month, I wanted to focus on sustainable dining around the world. Everyone looks forward to eating out when traveling. Still, many of us now consider how our dining choices impact the planet. Luckily, there are plenty of incredible sustainable restaurants to consider next time you hit the road. Here are just a few in some of the most popular destinations.
Touted as the world’s first zero-waste restaurant, this fine-dining establishment in London’s east end is one to add to your list when crossing the pond.
The focus is on a primarily plant-based menu, a zero-waste ethos, and ultimate respect for the environment and how food is generated. Any meat used is prepared using the whole animal, with leftovers composted.
All produce is locally sourced, arrives in reusable containers, and is served on crockery made from crushed wine bottles. Even the furniture is recycled, with tabletops made from recycled food packaging and lamps made from Mycelium, the vegetative part of fungi.
Septime tops every list as one of the best restaurants in Paris, but did you know it is one of the most sustainable too? 99% of its produce is sourced domestically from local and urban farms around Paris.
Most of the menu is vegetable-based, the meat comes from free-range farms, and the whole animal is used from head to tail. Nothing goes to waste. Due to its high environmental impact, you won’t find beef on the menu. They only buy seafood from small-scale fishermen using sustainable techniques to prevent overfishing.
Located just 15 minutes outside Bilbao, 3 Michelin Star Azurmendi in Larrabetzu, Spain, has been recognized for its innovations in sustainability – adding in reusable energy, planting over 700 trees, and working to save endangered seed varieties. Even the modern design of the building was conceptualized using recycled material. This fine-dining Basque restaurant was previously named the most sustainable restaurant in the world. The chef only uses small-scale local producers to create his seasonal menus worthy of these coveted three stars.