River Cottage Most Sustainable Restaurant

By Ben Aulakh

Celebrity television chef Hugh Fearneley-Whittingstall’s River Cottage restaurants have been voted the most sustainable places to eat in the UK.

A recent report by the Sustainable Restaurant Association said that both of the brand’s eateries demonstrated ‘especially good credentials in local and seasonal produce, healthy eating, waste management and responsible marketing.

Under the SRA’s comprehensive sustainability star rating the River Cottage HQ run by Head Chef Gill Meller was given a score of 87 per cent; while chef Tim Maddams and his team at the Axminster Canteen notched up 84 per cent.

Both sites also achieved excellence on the association’s Three Star Sustainability Champion status, scoring between 90 and 100 per cent in each category.

Account manager at the SRA George Clark said, “River Cottage doesn’t just talk about sustainability, it practices it too and its very high score reflects this.

“We were particularly impressed with their steadfast commitment to sourcing produce locally and also their dedication to reduce the environmental impact of both sites.”

For a restaurant to achieve such an accolade it must provide detailed information on sourcing, environment and society, covering everything from the provenance of their produce to how they manage their waste and energy.

The SRA’s Star Rating system is also rapidly becoming the industry standard for measuring the sustainability of restaurants.

The Sundays Times recently dubbed it the “Michelin Stars of Sustainability”.

Photograph from www.channel4.com