Most sustainable restaurants in Japan with FOOD MADE GOOD (Part 1)

Japan now has its own version of the Sustainable Restaurant Association that began in the UK and the FOOD MADE GOOD Awards that it runs to recognize and encourage sustainability initiatives in the food service industry. Award winners become models of these practices. Here, we look at two Japanese restaurants that have obtained certification in all three areas of the FOOD MADE GOOD program, as we explain what its standards are.

The FOOD MADE GOOD program was created in 2010 by the Sustainable Restaurant Association in the UK. It helps food service businesses understand and address the sustainability challenges they face by defining sustainability, inspiring action, auditing performance and rewarding success. The program’s 10-point rating framework comprises the three areas of sourcing, society, and the environment.

Restaurant817, by niseko chise garden, in Hokkaido, is a member of FOOD MADE GOOD. It has its own organic farm and uses food from there, and locally produced ingredients, to create salads, pasta and meat dishes for lunch.

Restaurant817 offers an excellent example of sustainable sourcing. Its commitment to self-sufficiency means it uses its own seasonal vegetables and those from local producers located within about 80 km of the restaurant. In addition, it offers vegetarian and vegan meals, uses local meat, milk, cheese and eggs from free-range livestock, and serves venison that has been culled as a pest. These practices meet the FOOD MADE GOOD criteria of “Celebrate Provenance” and “More Plants, Better Meat.” Restaurant817 also uses Rainforest Alliance coffee and local seafood caught by fisheries with MSC sustainability certification, which helps fulfill the criteria of “Support Farmers and Fishers” and “Source Seafood Sustainably.”

In the area of social good, the restaurant meets the criteria of “Feed People Well” and “Support the Community” by offering healthy, chemical-free food, but also through interaction with local students via education about food. Working conditions at the restaurant meet the guideline to “Treat Staff Fairly.”

Practices that protect the environment are, of course, essential when it comes to food sustainability. Restaurant817’s initiatives include trying to reduce the amount of electricity it uses and fully utilizing natural resources by, for example, reusing lumber and using fallen trees to construct buildings and using firewood for heating. Of course, it reduces its waste by composting and using biodegradable cups, and these practices meet the criteria of “Reduce your Footprint,” “Waste No Food,” and “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.”

PIZZERIA GTALIA DA FILIPPO, like Restaurant817, has also received a star for each of FOOD MADE GOOD’s three sections of sourcing, society, and environment. The Italian restaurant, based in Tokyo, received a further FOOD MADE GOOD award for its efforts in sourcing, which include serving little-known and under-utilized varieties of fish and transforming unattractive produce into new products, like limoncello liqueur. It also uses fair trade food.

The owner, Masakazu Filippo Iwasawa, has worked in Italy and France, and has received multiple international awards. His genuine love of local food and producers is clear in how he runs his restaurant. For example, together with Japanese producers he has developed an original, domestically produced flour for pizza and also one for pasta.

• Japan’s sustainable restaurants series

  • Most sustainable restaurants in Japan (Part 1) – Restaurant817 & PIZZERIA GTALIA DA FILIPPO
  • Most sustainable restaurants in Japan (Part 2) – BOTTEGA BLU. & TRATTORIA QENARU
  • Most sustainable restaurants in Japan (Part 3) – Kayanoya Restaurant & SELVAGGIO