This low-carbon vegetarian restaurant dishes up tasty meals that are labeled with the food’s exact carbon footprint.


Image: flickr

Have you ever eaten at a restaurant and wondered about the carbon footprint of your meal?  Did you ever think about how many greenhouse gas emissions your salad or veggie burger emitted on the way to your mouth? There’s a vegetarian restaurant in New York and London that tells you these exact facts, and it’s quickly becoming a green restaurant trendsetter. Otarian is a low-carbon restaurant that offers up a tasty menu of sustainably harvested food.  As an added bonus to your meal you get to read a label that lists its exact carbon footprint. That means you get good food and good facts for a low price. Who wouldn’t want to eat here?

Otarian was founded by Radhika Oswal, an Australian vegetarian and environmentalist who loves food and the planet. She opened four restaurants, two in New York and two in London, to share her love for meat-free food and sustainability with other eco-minded people. On her website she says this about Otarian: “Otarian’s goal is to provide guests with delicious vegetarian alternatives and, in so doing, to empower them to make a positive impact on the environment one meal at a time.” The restaurant definitely goes far beyond its environmental goals by creating food that’s healthy and by following practices that are both green and ethical.

Here are a few green aspects of the restaurant:


Image: flickr

The food containers list the carbon footprint of the entire meal. They’re even 100% compostable or recyclable.








Image: otarian

The restaurant offers everything from veggie burgers and wraps to soup and salad. There’s even a “Carbon Saving Combo Meal” that can save up to 3kg of carbon.  


Image: flickr

An amazing 98% of the restaurant’s waste is composted, recycled or reused. The Zulu chairs are made with plastic that has been weaved through steel frames, and the lights are made from broken pieces of glass.  Other green features include recycled plastic button tabletops and recycled glass floor tiles.


Image: flickr

The electricity in each restaurant comes from renewable resources like the sun, wind and water.


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You can even read Otarian’s commitment to customers while you’re in line for food.

Otarian also offers Carbon Karma Points, which can be redeemed online for free food. It’s their way of saying thank you to their loyal customers. Pretty cool, right? Well, I can’t find anything bad about this place, besides the fact that there are only 4 in existence. Check out Food Stories on the website to learn more about Otarian’s origins.

I leave you with a quote from the Otarian website: “Meat consumption and ongoing, increasing unsustainability or increasing vegetarianism and increasing sustainability? There really isn’t a choice.”

Do you agree?