Restaurants with their own farms gain a unique appreciation for what it takes to produce quality food. Chef Alex Seidel has gotten a lot of positive attention for his expertly prepared, eco-conscious cuisine at Denver’s Fruition Restaurant. The Wisconsin native was recognized in 2010 by Food and Wine Magazine as one of the best new…
Sustainable, Local, Humane Food
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Chef Daniel Corey of Luce San Francisco
Chef Daniel Corey talks to us about seasonal menus, Luce’s green certification and the trend toward sustainability in the restaurant industry. Long before San Francisco-based restaurant Luce received its official Green Dining Certification from the Green Restaurant Association, the establishment had already committed to keeping things fresh, local, seasonal and sustainable. Today Luce is one…
Shanti Allen of Alchemy Bali Raw Vegan Restaurant
Meet Shanti Allen, Executive Chef and founder of Alchemy, Ubud’s first completely raw vegan restaurant. Shanti meets me for our interview in a sundress and sandals, her long blonde hair loosely braided to one side. I follow her through the kitchen, where a bank of food dehydrators are concentrating flavors, and creating the textures raw…
Smart Chicken: Nebraska Poultry Farm Goes Beyond Organic
A new take on “food miles” — killing chickens gently — thoughts about antibiotics and animal byproducts in feed — why air chilling matters. Many companies are born out of a desire to do things bigger, better and faster than any other before. However, for Tecumseh Farms, a Nebraska-based certified organic chicken producer, bigger and faster weren’t…
Ben Ripple of Big Tree Farms
On the forefront of developing sustainable, community enhancing food systems in Bali, Indonesia Expats Ben and Blair Ripple left their organic farming jobs in Washington and moved to Bali, Indonesia, in the late 90s. Since then, they’ve been become somewhat famous in their efforts to bring artisinal Indonesian products to a larger market and to establish and…
Guide to Ethical Food on a Budget
Our best tips to help you eat nutritious, local, ethical and organic food for less
How to Buy Humanely Raised Eggs: Which Labels Are Best?
Labels are a start, but don’t tell the whole story. That’s why, no matter what the label says, you need to ask your egg producer these questions and decide for yourself if his practices meet your standards.
Interview With Mark Shepard of New Forest Farm
Working with and within nature using perennial food crops and restoration agriculture. Mark Shepard has created something of an environmental oasis at his Wisconsin homestead, New Forest Farm. Shepard, a farmer and author, is a longtime proponent of restoration agriculture, the practice of recreating healthy, naturally occurring, economically viable perennial farms. Packed with biodiversity, these…
Chain Reaction Urban Farm
Using borrowed suburban backyards, this urban farm CSA is bringing dormant gardens back to life and fresh organic food to the city.
Ending Food Waste: Getting Extra Food to Those In Need
Ending food waste, keeping perfectly good food out of landfills and feeding people who need a little help in your own community. It’s easier than you might think. Have you ever wondered where all the leftover food from places like your local supermarket or restaurants ends up? How about the gorgeous produce that remains after…
How to Make High Quality Chicken Stock
A chicken stock recipe for serious eaters and serious cooks. Rich in flavor and high in nutrition, this stock will make everything you cook unmistakably better. This is the indispensable ingredient in so much good cooking. You’ll be amazed at how a truly well made stock will elevate all it touches, from rissotto to soup, braises…
Braised Escarole With Bacon and Mustard Recipe
This warm, easy and satisfying dish is perfect as lunch or a light dinner, or as a side dish. Braised escarole with bacon and mustard There are so many leafy greens to eat, and so little time! Don’t get stuck eating the same rounds of spinach, chard and kale. Perhaps you’ve never eaten escarole, or maybe you’ve just forgotten about it. Here’s a tasty autumn refresher: One, two, three This hearty meal requires only three ingredients: One head of escarole Two slices of seriously good bacon (don’t even think about cheaping out here) Whole grain mustard (this should be made…
Foraged & Wild Foods
You don’t need to live in the deep woods to find foraged foods. From herbs to berries to mushrooms, you can find an abundance of food if you know how to look. Why forage? To take part in an industrial agricultural system means to be dependent on a system of food cultivation over which one…
How Green is Your Favorite Restaurant?
Sometimes sustainability is equated with upscale restaurants that specifically market their local and sustainable credentials. But what about your favorite pizza joint, or the place where you pick up a quick salad on the way home from work, or the bakery that supplies your daily bread? To really make a difference, sustainability has to take root in the way we live our daily lives and the way everyone does business; otherwise, it will be relegated to mere trendiness. So, what makes a restaurant greener? What does that even mean? You can look to your own kitchen to get a clue. The…
How to Buy Fresh, Organic, Sustainably Grown Local Produce
The best fruit and veg is local, seasonal and organically grown…but that doesn’t mean it’s going to be sporting an organic label.
Everything You Need to Know to Buy Healthy, Humanely Raised Chicken
You want birds that were raised humanely and you want birds that ate healthful, natural foods to ensure the best quality meat. But don’t be fooled by nice-sounding labels, even ones like “organic.” When it comes to buying poultry, a little homework will ensure your good intentions and extra expenditure don’t go to waste.
Meat: How To Buy Healthy, Humanely Raised Beef, Pork, Lamb and Goat
There are many reasons to avoid eating meat unless you know how it was produced. Learn what the issues are, how to navigate the confusing world of meat labels and use our checklist to find the best beef, lamb, goat and pork.
Humane Pasture Raised Heritage Breed Pork
With so many labels vying for your sustainable food dollar, it is becoming increasingly difficult to decide which is best. The labels should make it easier, but how many of us really know what the certified Organic or the various steps of the GAP animal welfare labels really entail? When it comes to pork, there…
Death By Ratatouille: Are You Allergic To Nightshades?
Nightshade vegetables may be secretly making you sick Okay, Death may be a bit extreme here, but you would be surprised how many people have a sensitivity to common nightshade vegetables. You’ve heard of the Deadly Nightshade. Hikers and foragers learn to avoid the tasty looking, yet poisonous, berries on this wild growing plant. But…
Soy Anise Braised Oxtail With Preserved Plum
Here’s an easy and delicious recipe for braised oxtail, an often overlooked cut in the US. This recipe can also be made with bone in short ribs, but I hope you’ll take this opportunity to experience how tender and flavorful oxtail can be. Ingredients Oxtails (pasture raised and 100% grassfed beef); here I’m using almost…
Hyper Local Foodshed: Neighborhood Food Sharing In Altadena
Free. Fresh. Local. What’s not to love about neighborhood food sharing? Seven years ago, a bounty of blackberries and a few generous neighbors inspired Gail Murphy to become one of the driving forces in Altadena’s local food renaissance.
Seasonal Cooking: How to Use Fresh Chickpeas
Fresh chickpeas with Brussels sprouts and pasta recipe Spring is the time to find all kinds of foods we normal eat dried in their fresh state. Fresh garbanzo beans, or chickpeas, are at the markets now, so don’t pass by these velvety green pods without giving them a try this season. Wondering how to use…
SPIN Method Offers Path To Profit For Urban Farming
The Small Plot Intensive Method of urban farming gives novice farmers a path to creating a small profitable business growing fresh food.
Certifying Sustainability
Defining sustainability in the restaurant industry, let alone measuring it, has proven to be an incredibly difficult task. A range of new businesses have emerged to help analyze a restaurant’s sustainability as well as provide certification for businesses to stand as a visual indicator to their customers of a restaurant’s ethical values—helping diners make smart choices.
Project Green Fork In Memphis
Margot McNeeley, founder of Project Green Fork in Memphis, Tennessee, talks to EthicalFoods.com about the challenges of helping restaurants move toward sustainable practices.
Onsite Restaurant Farms
Restaurants with roots Restaurants across the country are now boasting farm to table fare on their menus, sourced from local farms or, increasingly, a farm of their own. But not all can present their patrons with the farm just outside the restaurant doors. Restaurants with integrated onsite farms invite diners beyond the table to the…
Plastic Free Kitchen: Zip Bag Alternatives
Two sustainable kitchen rules I follow are to choose non-toxic materials and to go with reusable when possible. I’ve been pretty successful at finding convenient alternatives for just about everything. Except for one: how to replace plastic zip lock style food storage bags. What can I use instead of plastic food storage bags? I don’t…