Launching on the 24 March to coincide with WWF’s Earth Hour, the campaign will see each participating restaurant serve a dish that highlights how they are addressing the problems in the food system.
It will be the fourth time the SRA has partnered with WWF on Earth Hour.
Participating restaurants, which can be found on a dynamic One Planet Plate map online, include high street chains such as Jamie’s Italian, Carluccio’s, and Wahaca as well as independent restaurants including Farmacy; Le Bab and Ceviche.
Some recipes being created for the event are designed to eliminate waste, such as prawn head crispies from London’s Moshi Moshi sushi restaurant; sautéed oyster mushrooms from Harissa in Newcastle, which is made with mushrooms grown on coffee grounds; and bread soup made with stale bread and vegetable trimmings from Skye Gyngell’s eco-conscious restaurant Spring.
Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons’ will be serving a One Planet Plate of beetroot terrine and horseradish sorbet made with home grown beetroot to highlight the importance of local ingredients.
Ottolenghi head chef David Bravo will serve cured Chalkstream rainbow trout with pickled broccoli stems in his Islington restaurant to highlight the importance of sustainable seafood, while Nicholas Balfe at Salon is serving ‘broccomole’ as a sustainable alternative to smashed avocado.
The campaign is being launched in the wake of two surveys conducted on behalf of the SRA by restaurant guide Harden’s and the National Union of Students. The findings revealed low levels of satisfaction with the social and environmental impact of the food on offer in UK restaurants.
Only 20% of those asked by Harden’s said they were satisfied with how ethical the food was on menus of places they had eaten in recently. The findings were similar for the students, with only 24.8% satisfied with the environmental impact of the food on offer when they eat out.
Harden’s found that 86% of people asked thought restaurants should focus on creating a menu that makes it easier to choose sustainable options.
“Our consumer surveys clearly demonstrate that diners are crying out for some simple signposting to help them,” says Andrew Stephen, chief executive at the SRA.
“One Planet Plate gives chefs the chance to draw attention to one damned delicious dish that epitomises their ethos, and choosing it is a vote for the food future you want to see.”