Blog  September 12, 2011

Top chefs tell us how they support sustainable food systems Part 3

The Picnic at the Brick Works is coming soon! Below is the third part in a series where we’ve turned the microphone over to our participants to tell us what they do, and what we all can do, to support a sustainable food system.

Their responses are below, along with fantastic portraits taken by photographer Edward Pond.

Check out Part 1 and Part 2 for more!

Anton Potvin (Photo: Ed Pond)

Nick Liu (Photo: Ed Pond)

Anton Potvin and Nick Liu
Niagara Street Café

What do we need to do to continue this work so that we’re in a better place in the next five years?

Continue to educate customers one meal at a time, but most importantly to lead by example in our efforts to influence and educate the next generation. They need to believe that eating poorly should be considered outside the norm, not the other way around. Also, by working towards voting people into government who have a focus on community-based eating and living policies.

Bertrand Alépée (Photo: Ed Pond)

Bertrand Alépée
The Tempered Chef and Fisherfolk

What have you done in the past five years to change the way people eat?

In all my endeavours, I've always used local and sustainable products and made sure to mention the farms, the producers, the areas and everything terroir-related, either on the menus or verbally to my customers. Bringing people awareness and educating them is the key to making a change in their eating habits.

Kristen and Dan Donovan (Photo: Ed Pond)

Kristen and Dan Donovan
Hooked

What have you done in the past five years to change the way people eat?

Every day we inform and advise our customers to make better choices when buying seafood. From choosing lower on the food chain or less common fish, to choosing species that are abundant and harvested in ways that are sustainable to the populations and marine ecosystems.

What do we need to do to continue this work so that we’re in a better place in the next five years?

Wow—there is so much to do! To begin, we would like to debunk the myths around and gain greater acceptance for, frozen seafood and subsequently reduce the heavy reliance on air freight that is involved with fresh fish.