Denmark’s Amass restaurant prioritizes sustainability – composting, growing on site, buying locally and finding new ways to use leftovers.
Increasing sustainability by reducing waste is a multi-faceted challenge for the food industry. In Denmark, Copenhagen’s Amass restaurant takes a holistic approach to food that links the growing processes and resources used directly to the dishes that are served in the restaurant. The team is open about the fact that some of their processes are not the most technologically advanced and that they do take considerable effort, yet they are essential for as complete a farm-to-table experience as they have created.
The restaurant holds a Gold Organic Certificate, which means that 90–100 per cent of its food and drink is pesticide-free. Almost 95 per cent of the products used in its kitchens are locally sourced, and the company prioritizes partnerships with small farmers who produce speciality products such as heritage crops and breeds and extensive fruit varietals. In promoting organic practices, the restaurant hopes for ‘an agricultural future not dependent on chemicals, high yields and minimal environmental protections, but one where farmers work symbiotically with nature to produce delicious food sustainably’.
Amass focuses on ethical procurement, and uses only non-farmed seafood and wild fowl caught by professional hunters who meet the company’s high environmental standards. The restaurant’s sustainability initiatives also extend to the saving of water and the creative use of leftovers.
Located in an industrial part of Copenhagen, the restaurant has an extensive garden, growing more than 80 different types of plant, including berries, flowers, herbs and vegetables. Almost everything grown in the garden features on the menu. The garden also contains outdoor seating, and during the summer months nightly bonfires are lit in the garden for customers to enjoy.
Because the restaurant relies so heavily on what is fresh and in season and what is available from its own garden, the menu changes regularly. The kitchen team is constantly creating new ways to use the produce while creating as little waste as possible. Cardboard packaging and any waste that is produced are used as compost for the garden. Examples of the unusual uses of food trim include dehydrating herb stems for seasonings, turning coffee grounds into crispy flatbreads, frying fish bones for snacks and using green vegetable scraps in condiments and spreads.
The restaurant also focuses on the agricultural integrity of its wine producers and, again, sources as locally as possible. Most of the drinks on the menu are European and the Amass team tries to visit each vendor that supplies the restaurant.
Furthering the principle that farm-to-table gastronomy is the future of the food industry, the restaurant also uses its garden as an educational tool. Everyone, at any level of knowledge, from professional chefs to schoolchildren, is invited to learn about the restaurant’s sustainability processes. A particular success in the company’s outreach programme is the Amass Green Kids Programme. The programme teaches children about the life cycle of plants, flavours, scents, harvesting and cooking, and involves participants in a full season of planting, growing and harvesting, using whatever is available.
Bridging the gaps in the food industry between what is available, when and where, takes considerable planning and creative thinking. Technology certainly helps, with a number of apps like Transfernation connecting those with leftover food to those who can help get it to people in need. Another example of reducing waste by focusing on farm-to-table experiences and nose-to-tail eating is California’s Farmcation, a company dedicated to connecting interested foodies with the farmers producing their local food and drink.
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Website: amassrestaurant.com
Contact: info@amassrestaurant.com
Innovation name: Amass restaurant
Country: Denmark
Industries: Education / Food & beverage / Home & garden / Nature & sustainability /Smart cities