2. Eneko Atxa, chef for Azurmendi in Larrabetzu, Spain
“The World’s 50 Best” for 2018 awarded Larrabetzu the title of “World’s Most Sustainable Restaurant,” an immediate clue this restaurant takes the environment very seriously.
Chef Enkeko Atxa proves that no wall is too high to climb in caring for the planet and community. Azurmendi has its own orchard, vegetable garden, indoor greenhouse, and vineyards. With a belief that creation of a meal should start in the field, the Atxa also works with research centers to help preserve heritage vegetable species that are going extinct. They now have a seedbank on the premises to sell the endangered local species.
The restaurant also has a zero-waste policy, with food being delivered daily according to the number of guests. Leftovers go home with staff, meaning the restaurant doesn’t even have a walk-in cooler for long-term food storage.
It’s not just about his restaurant, however. Chef Atxa has pioneered several other programs – working with his community families and restaurants to collect material for composting, building solar panels and a geothermal heating system, and planting 800 trees to offset CO2 emissions.
Sustainable and mostly local seafood is abundant on the menu – Smoked Fish Brioche; Mussel infusion-Algue origami; Flame roasted red mullet; Grilled red mullet, red peppers juice on charcoal, and parsley; Roasted and peeled lobster, juice, coffee butter, and purple onion from Zalla; and shrimp, vegetable juice and frozen “old” tomato – just to name a few.
According to Forbes, Atxa is “not just a chef … [he's] also a philosopher, farmer, conservationist, environmentalist, storyteller, missionary, visionary, leader, artist, perfectionist, humanist, chemist, winemaker, business person, and he has amazing sensibility for architecture.”
