Our food systems are broken, Chris Locke says, and not built to last. As they stand, the industry and the planet will topple. The Marben chef has a solution, one he’s called Sustainuary, and he tapped a bunch of big culinary names to help him.
The group of chefs include The Drake Hotel‘s Laura Maxwell,ย Ryan Lister of The Rabbit Hole and author Joshna Maharaj, among others. Each will have a sustainably-made dish on their menu for a period of time, be it a week or a month, as a part of Locke’s Sustainuary initiative.
His restaurant, Marben, took the pandemic to revolutionize their restaurant practices, eliminating tips and continuing their sustainable food ethos throughout the menu. “We’re looking at the impact that we have on our immediate community and also on our community of farmers and producers, who we rely on heavily, and keeping that same ethos throughout the menu,” he says. “We’re doing what we can to be to be the best that we can in the traditional sense of having a great restaurant, great food, great, great drinks, but also creating a community and leading by example. We think in terms of creating an industry is sustainable, in the sense that it gives people livable wages, having equitable wages, and treating people with respect and dignity, all important things that need to happen in order for the restaurant industry to continue to survive and thrive.”
Now, Locke is expanding outside of his own restaurant, teaming up with 100km Foods to create Sustainuary, a two-night event, held at Marben, that brings a group of iconic local chefs and activists together to teach Torontonians to cook sustainable meals in the comfort on their own kitchen. “In the summer, just as an idea, I was like, why don’t we do a public awareness campaign on sustainability in our food systems, why it’s broken, what needs to be done to fix it? How we can go about reform?” he says. “It was just an idea at that point. And then I suddenly found myself with some free time.”
The idea came to fruition rather quickly, culminating in the two events as well as a series of Instagram conversations. “It’s full courses in the four pillars of sustainability and our framework,” Locke explains, noting that the pillars are social justice, locality and seasonality, responsible food generation and waste reduction. “So each course relates to one of one of those pillars.” Maxwell and company selected a pillar and built a dish around it, and will explain its importance and relation to each pillar to event guests.
Locke notes that it’s easier than people expect to think sustainably. “I think the first step is just education. Learning about the various issues, learn about where your food comes from,” he says. “And then you can start having an appreciation of the value of food and what are good choices. And that’s where it really stems from.”
The two virtual events are hosted on February 28 and March 7, and the four course dinner is priced at $99 per person. Tickets for the Sustainuary event can be purchased online, and Marben is located at 488 Wellington Street West.
