Top chefs join One Planet Plate campaign

Faced with a full menu of dishes to choose from, it can be hard for even the most conscious diners to feel confident they’re making the right choice, even in the most ethical restaurant.

To help, the Sustainable Restaurant Association (SRA) is launching One Planet Plate, a global campaign to help diners use the power of their appetites wisely. It’s a chance for chefs worldwide to demonstrate to diners in food form how they’re contributing to a better food future. A One Planet Plate is effectively the chef’s sustainable special – his or her recommendation.

What’s in it for diners?
Diners can find dozens of recipes submitted by chefs from all over the world, from high-end and high street restaurants, to download on the new One Planet Plate website (live from mid-March 2018). The dynamic map on the site also directs diners to restaurants serving these sustainable dishes – all of which tackle at least one of the serious issues facing our food system. One thousand sites across the UK are expected to be serving a One Planet Plate come 24 March.

Who are the chefs?
Chefs including Anna Hansen of Modern Pantry, Skye Gyngell of Spring, Thomasina Miers of Wahaca, Damian Clisby of Petersham Nurseries, Chantelle Nicholson of Tredwell’s, Yotam Ottolenghi, Jamie Oliver, Angela Hartnett of Murano, Richard H Turner of Hawksmoor, and Enda McEvoy of Loam are all submitting recipes for a One Planet Plate and serving them in their restaurant in time for Saturday 24 March which is WWF Earth Hour – the largest environmental event in the calendar and a perfect moment to grab diners’ attention.

The SRA are giving chefs creative licence, recognising that a delicious dish has the greatest chance of capturing hearts and changing minds. They’re asking chefs to consider some of the big issues when devising their recipe for a One Planet Plate – issues that reflect key themes from the SRA’s sustainability framework. A One Planet Plate is a dish that does one or more of these things:

• CELEBRATES LOCAL: Use locally sourced, seasonal and non-intensively-farmed produce
• WASTES NO FOOD: Rethink how food surplus or common by-products are used
• FEATURES MORE VEG: Shift the proportion of animal protein towards plant-based ingredients
• SOURCES FISH SUSTAINABLY: Educate diners on where their fish comes from
• INCLUDES BETTER MEAT: Inspire diners to eat high-welfare meat in smaller portions
• HAS A LOW CARBON FOOTPRINT: Cut use of natural resources from farm to fork

Visit oneplanetplate.org from 19 March to see which restaurants are taking part, as well as all the One Planet Plate recipes from chefs around the world. Make sure to snap a pic of the hero dish and share it via #OnePlanetPlate.

More about chefs and their dishes
Thomasina Miers, co-founder of Wahaca whose dish is twice cooked black beans with sobresada, said: “I am delighted that Wahaca is taking up the One Plate challenge with our twice-cooked black beans, one of our most delicious dishes on the menu, seasoned with the amazing sobresada from Trealy Farm. It is incredibly easy to eat sustainable AND delicious food and the One Plate campaign illustrates this beautifully.”

His One Planet Plate is beetroot, blackberry, hazelnut.

James Golding of The Pig’s One Planet Plate is Pressed Pig and Pickled Walnut which he describes thus: “Our “Pressed PIG” dish is a PIG classic that features on our menu in Brockenhurst, we use the PIG head and ham hocks from our own pigs and free-range pannage pigs from New Forest-based Wendy Maughan at Manor Farm in Cadnam. The dish fully represents our ethos of local produce and is a great way to utilise the under-used parts of the pig that always deliver on flavour in such a big way.”

“This dish is served with pickled walnuts that are grown locally (a staple in Hampshire served with cold meats), we dress the plate with cold pressed rapeseed oil and grow the purple mustard frills on the grounds of THE PIG.”

Nicholas Balfe chef at Salon in Brixton, says: “I think it’s fair to say the smashed avo craze has passed its peak, and we’ve all realised that as good as avocados are, they’re probably not the most sustainable thing we could be piling on our toast, especially in a restaurant like Salon, where we use seasonal ingredients, sourced as locally as possible.

Having said that, we still like the idea of a big dollop of green goodness on our sourdough in the mornings, which is why my sous chef, Paolo Lancini, developed this recipe using all of our broccoli leaves and trimmings, inspired by smashed avos older, retro cousin… Let me introduce you to Brocco-mole!