How D.C. Restaurants Source Local and Reduce Food Waste
"A Michelin-starred, sustainability-driven restaurant in the Shaw neighborhood of Washington, D.C., led by Rob Rubba (a 2022 Food & Wine Best New Chef) that treats waste as a design material. Crushed wine bottles are transformed by a Maryland ceramic artist into plates, tiles and building materials; used cooking oil is mixed with Pennsylvania beeswax to make candles that rest on empty oyster shells; and menus are printed on recycled paper embedded with wildflower seeds so diners can plant them. The vegetarian-and-bivalve, seasonally driven menu sources from more than 30 mainly mid-Atlantic farmers and stays intentionally flexible. About 25% of leftover food is composted and 75% is funneled into fermentation projects—sauces, kombucha and vinegar—with examples including whole kumquats used across condiments, kombucha and tea, and surplus bread converted into miso through roughly a year-long fermentation process." - Julekha Dash
