Sustainability Practices
In May 2016, we were delighted to be awarded a three star Food Made Good rating (the highest possible!) by the Sustainable Restaurant Association (SRA) following a review of our practices – becoming the first independent restaurant in Ireland to do so.
“Three Stars demonstrates an exceptional standard of sustainability – going above, beyond and pushing the boundaries of how restaurants and cafés can be run!” – Sustainable Restaurant Association
In September 2017, Loam was named in the Top 20 most sustainable food service businesses and shortlisted for the Food Made Good Business of the Year Award.
Sustainability Practices:
-A design feature of the restaurant’s interior are our eye-catching grow boxes, used to grow herbs for the restaurant menu and flowers for decoration (avoiding the need to import them).
-The menu is purposely kept small and changes regularly in order to reduce food waste with Enda and the team also preserving ingredients through pickling and fermentation to ensure their availability out of season.
-We use every part of the animals and fish that we work with, making stocks from bones, rillettes and pates with trimmings and use as much of each plant, root, stem, leaf and flower as they can to highlight each ingredient and show its full potential. To complete the loop, we also send suitable food waste back to Leaf and Root Farm in Loughrea to be composted, helping boost the growth of future crops.
-Loam is also involved in a number of community initiatives, including running cookery demos for school children at a local school in conjunction with Slow Food Ireland.
Discussing Loam’s award, Chief executive of the SRA, Andrew Stephen said: “It’s as crystal clear as the waters of Galway Bay, that Enda and his team at Loam are doing everything in their powers not only to serve the finest, best sourced local ingredients, but also to build a place at the very heart of the community in Galway City. They have set an exceptional standard for others in Ireland to follow.”
Speaking about the restaurant’s sustainability rating, Enda McEvoy said: “We are absolutely delighted to be awarded a three-star rating. From the outset, we have strived to have a low impact, sustainable business. This shows us that we are on the right track and serves as motivation to try achieve more in terms of sustainability. We work with excellent producers who make it possible to source amazing local produce and we feel very lucky in this regard.”