What it Means to be Green at a Mario Batali Restaurant

Mario Batali photograph by Melanie Dunea

The restaurant industry accounts for 10% of the U.S. economy. Americans spend approximately forty-eight percent of their food budget on food consumed away from home ($1,078 per person annually), dining at over 945,000 restaurants.¹ The average restaurant produces 50,000 pounds of garbage per year, typically close to 95% of which could be recycled or composted.² The Restaurant industry consumes 1/3 of all energy used by the retail sector (in the US, and the average food service facility uses 300,000 gallons of water per year.

In our restaurants, from the more casual Otto Pizzeria to fine dining at Del Posto, we have addressed some of these issues: we have banned bottled water, we have a full scale recycling and composting program at each of them and all of our chefs have personal relationships with the local farmers. Our steakhouse, Carnevino, in Las Vegas, NV, the city of excess, is located in the largest LEED-certified silver building in the world. In that restaurant we have introduced water saving measures, recycled paper and toilet paper, energy conservation initiatives, recycling and composting -- you name it. And our restaurants are buried deep within a hotel. Where there is a will, we know there is a way:

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Living Wall

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On the wall between Osteria and Pizzeria Mozza in Los Angeles, GreenScapedBuildings of San Diego, CA, designed and installed a 12-foot vertical garden. Also known as a living, or green wall, they are self-sufficient vertical gardens that are attached to the exterior or interior of a building. They differ from green façades (e.g., ivy walls) in that the plants root in a structural support which is fastened to the wall itself, plants receive water and nutrients from within the vertical support instead of from the ground, and in our case, are edible! We planted: Golden sage, Purple sage, Hon tsai tai, Italian parsley, Parsley, Filbert scented geranium, Lady Plymouth scented geranium, Pink spice scented geranium, Charity scented geranium, Chicory, Correnta spinach, Lime mint, Variegated peppermint, Spearmint, Chinese celery, Rosemary, Red rib Italian dandelion, Red lettuce, Green lettuce, Bull’s blood beets, Pansy

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On the wall between Osteria and Pizzeria Mozza in Los Angeles, GreenScapedBuildings of San Diego, CA, designed and installed a 12-foot vertical garden. Also known as a living, or green wall, they are self-sufficient vertical gardens that are attached to the exterior or interior of a building. They differ from green façades (e.g., ivy walls) in that the plants root in a structural support which is fastened to the wall itself, plants receive water and nutrients from within the vertical support instead of from the ground, and in our case, are edible!

We planted: Golden sage, Purple sage, Hon tsai tai, Italian parsley, Parsley, Filbert scented geranium, Lady Plymouth scented geranium, Pink spice scented geranium, Charity scented geranium, Chicory, Correnta spinach, Lime mint, Variegated peppermint, Spearmint, Chinese celery, Rosemary, Red rib Italian dandelion, Red lettuce, Green lettuce, Bull’s blood beets, Pansy

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¹Consumer Demand for Ways to Fit Quality Meals Into Hectic Schedules Shape Restaurant Trends in 2008, National Restaurant Association survey. 2007.)

²U.S. EPA, Municipal Solid Waste Handbook. 1997.

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Comments

[liberalbug]

11:23 PM on 04/14/2010

Mario, I ate at one of your restaurant­s--paid a small fortune. Let me tell you, being green is the least of your concerns. You might want to get back to the basics, you know, like good food and service. Total sell out, sorry, but it's true. The whole celebrity chef thing is a complete joke.

[chefsnews]

04:57 PM on 04/14/2010

So glad to see that more chefs are going green....w­ay to go Mario! Elizabeth, I invite Mario to be my first "green" celebrity chef on my website, http://www­.chefnews.­com. Let's talk.

[KIVPossum]

12:06 PM on 04/13/2010

Really like the green wall thing

[heavy2healthy]

09:23 AM on 04/13/2010

I had read that of all them on the food network.He is the most successful­.I like Mario he seems like a really nice guy.

http://www­.heavy2hea­lthy.com
no spam just my weight loss journey.

[aflyinyoursoup]

02:04 AM on 04/13/2010

I'm Italian and I watch Mario on Food Network all the time. He's one of my culinary heroes.
He does world-clas­s magic with simple food. That's what Italians do with food...Won­derful!

[aflyinyoursoup]

02:08 AM on 04/13/2010

Or is it Fine Living? Either way, he's great!

[EnPointe]

11:57 AM on 04/13/2010

mine, too... I love him!

[susankhbelen]

11:08 PM on 04/12/2010

Mario is the man! I loved his show on Fine where he cooked and about 4 people got to eat....oh, wow!
Have eaten at Rick Bayless rest. in Chi. and that was marvelous too.
I am a foodie wanna be!

[mmgbizgirl]

11:00 PM on 04/12/2010

Fabulous!

[janedoe31]

10:41 PM on 04/12/2010

Mario is one chef that actually makes sense.....­......good food/no bull

[janedoe31]

10:40 PM on 04/12/2010

Mario is one chef that actually makes sense.....­......good food/no bull shite

[dozaa]

09:58 PM on 04/12/2010

Best meal of my life was at Po in NYC.

Now I go to Mozza and take out of town guests there - always DELISH.

Love you, Mario.

[BigAl72]

09:53 PM on 04/12/2010

Mario, is the Man!

[EnPointe]

12:02 PM on 04/13/2010

wow... I think I owe you a quiet apology, for being surprised you're a Foodie. I think your Av intimidate­s me a little. : ))
Fanned.

[Les Kern]

09:32 PM on 04/12/2010

I like my favorite Iron Chef even more.

[Balloon-Boy]

09:18 PM on 04/12/2010

So Mario is a lib after all.

[quindy]

02:20 PM on 04/13/2010

What's that supposed to mean?

[Bianca McKell]

06:04 PM on 04/19/2010

i'm pretty sure wanting the earth to survive isn't a liberal or conservati­ve thing, just a smart thing. as much as people want to tack it to one side or the other as some sort of political boon or bust, it is just the right thing to do.

[Smithn]

09:04 PM on 04/12/2010

I developed a PBS crush on him during his 'On The Road/Spain­' series with Bitterman and Paltrow. His passion is palably authentic. yum.

[EnPointe]

12:04 PM on 04/13/2010

That was a great series. What a dream to do that.

[knitterpatter]

08:59 PM on 04/12/2010

Let's think about this. Bottled water from Europe, heavy if it is in glass, needs to be shipped by boat during the warm months. Then it needs to be delivered from port to warehouse. Then it needs to be delivered to food distributo­rs via a semi. Then it needs to be housed in a vast warehouse warmed to at least 34 degrees during those winter months. Then it needs to be delivered to restaurant­s via distributo­rs vans.

Restaurant­s pay about $1.30 for said bottle of water, which is also packed in a cardboard box. How does any of this make sense? Well, diners will pay about $7-9 for a bottle of water at a good restaurant­. It is a powerhouse profit for restaurant­s. And a powerhouse waste of resources for something that can and should be free. Mario is doing the right thing, by throwing those water dealers out the door.

[Tenfour]

06:02 AM on 04/13/2010

not to mention what the bottled water companies are doing to get that water in the first place .. I recommend the documentar­y .. FLOW

[Tom Lauria]

09:41 AM on 04/13/2010

What you write applies to every single bottle of wine, beer and spirits imported into the country from around the world. And foods like wheels of cheeses, sides of beef, legs of lamb. Since you can't get European mineral waters out of tap -- even natural spring water is bottle-bou­nd -- why exclude fine waters from the normal flow of commerce? Every food product in America involves shipping. Since humans will be re-hydrati­ng and refreshed by sparkling natural water, WHY call it a "powerful waste of resources?­" it'as not wasted at all! It is directly benefiting someone in an important way.

[Eddie Riggins]

02:05 PM on 04/15/2010

Every food item you mentioned requires specific processing procedures developed in localities which are, for the most part, legally protected from being reproduced elsewhere. Cured or fermented cheeses, meats, and alcohols are reliant on both culinary artisans and their native bacteria, it is no simple feat to reproduce many of these artisan foods. On the other hand, filtered water is filtered water no matter where you get it from, so at what point does it need to come in an expensive petroleum bottle or be shipped from a different continent?