Eat Out Honours The Werf Restaurant for Sustainability
The Werf Restaurant won the Woolworths Sustainability Award at yesterday’s Eat Out awards held at The Grand West Casino in Cape Town. The Sustainability Award was judged by a separate panel of experts including Abigail Donnelly, Pavitray Pillay of WWF-SASSI, Sonia Mountford of Eategrity and Karen Welter of Longtable Project. Eat Out has worked with these partners to develop robust criteria for evaluating restaurants for this award.
Christiaan Campbell, Boschendal’s Executive Chef is elated with the win. For Campbell, the award raises awareness about issues he has long cared about: farming and cooking with integrity. “One could say I am a farming activist before being a chef – if we are to eat meat and grow healthy produce, animals should live dignified lives and we should make every effort to improve soil health following each harvest. I am proud that our Boschendal food garden and farming teams are forging ahead with these restorative practices – and the Eat Out award gives credit to this awesome team effort.”
According to Sonia Mountford of Eategrity, “Christiaan paved the way for sustainability-minded chefs long before it became a trend”. Four years ago, Campbell took the opportunity at Boschendal to steer the farm’s development in pioneering agriculture, taking an active interest in the estate’s soil health and using The Werf Restaurant to educate diners. “He not only understands the connection between how our food is grown – including how livestock is treated, human health and the health of the planet, but he also actively pursues ways to advocate for the principle of respect.”, says Mountford.
For Matt Stevens, Boschendal’s General Manager of Hospitality – the award goes a long way to crediting the overriding philosophy of the farm: “We are thrilled to win the 2018 Eat Out Sustainability Award and thank the judges for this prestigious recognition. This honour really goes to the heart of what we do at Boschendal – a daily collaboration between our farming, food garden and kitchen teams. Like Wendell Berry, we believe strongly that ‘eating is an agricultural act’ and are proud that The Werf Restaurant is producing an exceptional dining experience rooted in regenerative agricultural principles”
The Werf Restaurant is open Wednesdays to Saturdays for lunch and dinner and on Sundays for lunch only. The new Werf Bar situated in the restaurant is open Monday to Sunday 12:00 to close. There is no better way to celebrate exquisitely grown farm produce!
