Restaurant Sustainibility: Why not?

                Arthur Potts Dawson gave an inspiring TED Talk, but he was missing some things. First, he didn’t really give any new speaking techniques. He told a story, and that was about it. He didn’t have any humor, which was common in all the other TED Talks. He also didn’t really explain why he made his restaurants sustainable. He explained how he did it, but not why it was important. I feel that he could have added in statistics about waste and why it’s bad. Also, he only focused on his own restaurants, but there are other restaurants out there who keep sustainability in mind. For instance, my favorite restaurant (and the restaurant that has inspired me), Root Down. Root Down, at the bottom of their menus state how sustainable they are. 2 other sustainable restaurants I know are in Hawaii, Pacific’O and I’O. These two restaurants get nearly all they’re produce from O’o Farm, a farm that the two chefs created. This farm is nearly 100% organic, and they are slowly becoming more and more bio dynamic. There are a copious amount of restaurants around the world that are already being sustainable, and I think he should’ve shed some light on these other eateries.

                I thought his ideas were solid, and they really do apply to the whole culinary world. When you go to a restaurant, you can tell how much waste there is. I went out to eat this night, and I sat next to the kitchen. I looked on the floor, and I saw some food scraps. Then I monitored how many plates the waiters were taking back and how there always seemed to be some food left on those plates. The ideas in his Talk could be easily carried out in the restaurant I went to. The restaurant could make a roof top garden, and they could compost the organic leftovers that were being thrown away. If restaurants were to actually implement these ideas, then they would save money, and be doing well for the planet.

                His TED Talk doesn’t really relate to me now, but I think it will in the future. I plan on opening my own restaurant, and I plan on implementing some of Dawson’s ideas. I definitely would want my restaurant to compost food, and to have a large garden. I think that this would be a wise thing to do because not only would some of my produce be fresh and delicious, but it would also save money so I don’t have to buy all this produce from other sources. Also, it relates to my own garden. We have a compost bin, and so in turn we are able to use kitchen scraps that we would normally just throw away. This provides us with a better garden because of the compost, and it lets us use scraps that would end up in landfills where it wouldn’t benefit anyone.