Eateries are riding high on the sustainability wave these days. Apart from championing the cause of ethical eating and small carbon footprint, they are devising offbeat solutions to reduce wastage.
According to hospitality consultant Amit Roy, at least 50% of the restaurants here are asking for some form of sustainable ideas to make an environmental contribution.
The Humming Tree bar is selling its wet waste to the same initiative for use in piggeries and composting. The bar chef at Sanchez in UB City is working on using unconsumed fruit peels to serve liquor shots. For example, lemon shells will be used to serve tequila. Experiment is on to serve cocktails in avocado and dragon fruit shells.
Although they serve international cuisines, they try and use local produce. For instance, avacado and butterfruit come from Kodagu and Ooty. Chef Vikas Seth says, “Just the way Karnataka has driven the millet fever, every state should promote its unique food product. The more you drive the concept of ethical eating, the more you realise the need to cover for the future.”
Geist, a craft beer brewery, has adopted ways to intelligently use waste. Roughly, it claims to get 1,000 litres of beer from 200 kg of malt. It means that it generates tonnes of spent grain. Its Hoskote factory has been donating this spent grain for sheep and cattle feed.
Narayan Manepally, director of Geist, says, “I have been told that milk production goes up by 20% with cattle’s consumption of spent grain.”
Celebrity chef Abhijit Saha has been pioneering the sustainability trend with his restaurants Fava and Caperberry. Instead of catering, they prepare the staff food inhouse now. They have installed tap regulators to reduce water flow by 50%. Saha says, “Conserving environment for the future generation is the need of the hour, even if it is a drop in the ocean.”
