Chef Bertrand Grébaut and business partner Théo Pourriat’s run the Paris restaurant Septime. 99% of the food consumed there is grown in France, and the restaurant is concerned with doing as much right as possible – – working closely with local suppliers and urban farmers, treating staff and collaborators fairly, and ensuring their carbon footprint is as low as possible.
The restaurant has decided not to serve beef, given the industry’s negative environmental impact. When Grébaut does use meat he buys the entire animal, using the less common cuts in terrines, broths, or staff meals.
The restaurant only works with fishermen using angling, bottom gillnets, and other sustainable methods, to limit the impact on the marine environment. The chef is reportedly fond of less ‘fashionable’ fish, including horse mackerel and pouting, and shapes the daily menu around the available fish.
Grébaut says his work is shaped by “nature, my team, and memories….many things give us inspiration.” He used to be a graffiti artist, and once cooked a meal on top of subway lines to demonstrate the “meeting of his two passions”.
Septime are members of Bon Pour Le Climat, a programme to reduce the carbon footprint of the hospitality sector, and even worked with a private contractor to measure and monitor waste after becoming unsatisfied with recycling opportunities offered by the Parisian authorities. As reported by theWorlds50best, cut offs that would usually be thrown away are re-used in sauces or for staff meals.
On top of this, Septime’s workforce is majority female, a rarity in the male-dominated industry; all staff are at least 1.3 times the local minimum wage; and Grébaut is a key collaborator on a project called ‘Conservatoire du Gout’, a seed bank to save 1,400 seed varieties.
Tags: food and drink, France, Sustainable Gastronomy
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