Sustainable Food Initiatives In Prague
It can be difficult to determine how sustainable a restaurant is simply by their menu. Often you have to dig deeper to learn more about their story and methods to learn if they are truly environmentally friendly. This article will explore a handful of restaurants in Prague that promote and practice sustainable habits.
La Farma Restaurant is committed to developing a healthy work environment and they emphasize how they focus on empathy, fair play, kindness, and higher values. They promote
authenticity and collaboration. They strive to focus on not only quality ingredients, but including the human approach in choosing their suppliers by their passion and heart. It is
named La Farma to specifically tie it closer to the farmers. They have a transparent policy regarding their suppliers as they provide names and descriptions of their local meat, produce, egg, mushroom, and honey providers. Their suppliers are committed to sustainable production.
Chickin is a restaurant serving free range chicken from local farms. The meat is free from antibiotics and hormones. They also offer fried marinate tofu for vegetarians. Chickin is the first Prague restaurant to use vermicomposting to convert their kitchen waste into fertilizer. They are working with Czech University of Agriculture on a new vermireactor which is a unique way of decomposing organic matter. Through the vermireactor, they can automatically compost organic production residues, paper towels, and compostable packing amongst other materials at their restaurant. They use packaging-free ecological cleaning products.
Spojka Karlín is the first flexitarian restaurant in Czech Republic, emphasizing unity with
people of different eating habits. They wanted to provide a place where everyone can eat together. Flexitarianism is a sustainable diet that simply reduces the consumption of animal products in relation to their environmental impact. Spojka Karlín only serves organic or free range meat. Their own bakery goods are gluten and sugar free. They prepare most of their meals by hand from using fresh ingredients and knowing the quality of their source. On their website, they discuss the specific suppliers for their ingredients and the sustainability of the farms.
Socialni Bistro Strecha is a vegan restaurant that employs people who are homeless or who served time in prison. They offer a sustainable wage and started with the vision of being a social vegan enterprise. They have a wide variety of hot and cold dishes, gluten-free cakes, and fair-trade organic coffee. The restaurant was founded by five people who were frustrated with the difficulty those that are homeless or returning from prison have with finding a job. They wanted to be able to provide them with a stable wage so they could purchase housing. They hope to continue inspiring and encouraging other organizations to adopt similar policies and employ people of different disadvantages in the work industry. At Socialni Bistro Strecha, employees are able to rise in the company and make decisions about running the company and the operations management team.
Related to sustainable restaurants, the Rekrabička Project allows people to use reusable containers to take home their leftovers from restaurants. They strive to reduce the amount of single use and disposable packaging from take home meals. They already have 346 partners collecting the reusable containers with them. At the partner restaurants, you pay a refundable deposit for the container to take your food home in. When you are done with the container, you simply rinse it and then return it to any partner location and you receive your deposit back as well. The containers consist of durable polypropylene which allows for them to be used up to 400 times. The containers are made directly in the Czech Republic which limits the transport needed and decreases CO2 production. The material is also 100% recyclable.
All of these sustainable food initiatives allow for customers to take more control in the effects of their eating habits. Often we can feel as though all of the waste we witness in the food industry is endless and permanent, but these restaurants demonstrate the power of creativity, and innovation to reduce our ecological footprint. Supporting these restaurants ensures sustainable ideas can continue to grow and flourish in spreading their influence across the world.