Why Sustainability
For us sustainability has a number of different meanings. Most basically defined it is the ability of an ecosystem to maintain ecological processes. This has many different facets.
Socially it means supporting local business. This is one reason we buy from the farmers market and support a 100% local seafood program. Keeping our money within our community is good for everyone.
Agriculturally it means propagation of heirloom varieties and crop rotation to promote natural fertilization of soil. Commercial crops drain the soil of particular nutrients needed by whatever is being grown. Lower soil nutrients compromise flavor. Additionally the owners of these local farms are looking out for the best interest of the land, this is how they make their living.
Environmentally it is a reduction of cost associated with the transport of product from miles and miles away. Walking to shop at the farmers market on Tuesdays and Saturdays is only one example of things we are doing to keep trucks off the road. The biggest example is our complimentary bottled water that pours direct from our Natura Water System. Natura is a company that manufactures and leases water filtration units capable of producing sparkling and still water filtered from a municipal water source and let me tell you , it is the best water I have ever had... and I am from Oregon! Oregon has great water! You would never know this was Santa Barbara water unless I told you. Serving house bottled water keeps trucks off the road for delivery and reduces our waste from bottles going out because we machine wash and re-use the Natura Bottles.
The basic message is that food with less food miles is going to taste better. It is handled less & served sooner; freshness in mind the whole way to the table. Hand selection of our products is the first ingredient to our amazing food. Hand selection insures not only quality, but shape, size & color needed to achieve exactly what we are looking for in a dish.
For further information check out these websites:
Bon Appetit Management Company - Bamco.com
Monterey Bay Aquarium - Seafood Watch.org