Eating Out

A short while ago I used to live in Hong Kong.  Now for anyone who has never visited the former British colony, it is a shopper’s paradise.  No matter what you want to buy, no matter what your budget, the choice is enormous.  There is a place to fit every taste and every wallet from the seemingly endless number of high-end malls selling designer labels, to the famous open air markets laden with cheap tat, silk ties and knock-off watches and handbags.

When it comes to food the same divide is evident.  The wet markets sell a profusion of exotic fruits; all kinds of freshly cut veg (well actually it more or less comes down to about 15 different types of Chinese cabbage but it’s colourful); freshly butchered meat; fish so fresh it is still gasping in two inches of water; poultry so fresh it is only slaughtered when they get a buyer.  Freshness, you might gather, is something of an obsession with the Chinese housewife. On the other hand, animal welfare, carbon foot-print and dare I say, additives, feature somewhat lower in the goodwife's consciousness.

Wanchai market, Hong Kong

However, if you want to know more about your food, well then the Western supermarkets will supply, not so fresh but perfectly labeled imports, which no doubt look just as exotic to the locals.  For only slightly less than the price of a small car, you can buy hydroponically grown cucumbers from Holland; grass-fed beef from Australia, reared without use of growth hormones; USDA approved, corn-fed, organic chicken from the United States; and spotlessly clean Japanese onions.

So there’s your choice, fresh produce from somewhere in China potentially including melamine flavoured milk, heavy metal rice and porkchops that actually glow in the dark; or limp food with so many food-miles it could retire and fly business class for the rest of its shelf life.  But at least you had a choice.  Of course most expats opted for the latter and covered their eyes when the supermarket till roll came out.  But when those same consumers ate out at any of Hong Kong’s reputedly more than 11,000 restaurants, they had no idea at all about what they were eating.  What is the point of spending a small fortune to eat healthily and ethically at home, and then to go out at night and eat whatever the restaurant manager can get most cheaply?

What we needed was a Hong Kong branch of the Sustainable Restaurant Association.  The SRA describes itself as “a not for profit membership organisation helping restaurants become more sustainable and diners make more sustainable choices when dining out”. They also help keep sustainability on the news agenda at a local and national level, running campaigns on issues such as finding more sustainable fish supplies, reducing food waste and advancing energy efficiency.

The SRA is a response to concerns of both diners and restaurateurs, many of whom share the same environmental concerns.

They recognize that consumers, like the animals they eat, do not all fit in to the same box, so they have produced a 14 point definition of sustainability covering issues such as Sourcing, Environment and Society.   They are supported by a wide range of bodies including the RSPCA’s Freedom Food, The Rainforest Alliance, The Fair-trade Foundation and others.

 Participating member restaurants can be identified by the SRA logo, and they are encouraged to apply for an independently audited star rating. This indicates how well they are doing in achieving the goals of the organisation and allows diners to “choose a restaurant that matches their sustainability priorities”.

Members of the public are invited to sign up as Friends of the SRA, to receive the free newsletter and help spread the word to their own favourite restaurants.

Why not join today? Oh, but one thing.  I read through their directory of member restaurants on the web site and I haven’t noticed any Chinese restaurants yet!