The European Ecocook project for sustainability in kitchens begins with its audits in 4 restaurants
The Swiss consulting company Biolia and the staff of the Canary Islands Technological Institute (ITC) have begun to carry out audits with a questionnaire to the first four of the twenty restaurant establishments in the municipality that want to know the degree of sustainability of their kitchens and dining rooms to achieve the European Ecocook Restaurant certificate, a new quality badge that recognizes excellence and sustainability practices in restaurants at the European level.
Framed in the Gastro Ingenio project, which has among its objectives to promote and promote local gastronomy in Gran Canaria and the rest of the islands, increase employability and promote the circular economy, this step towards achieving the Ecocook seal turns Ingenio into a municipality pioneer and the only one in the Canary Islands currently working on obtaining this certification. The budget to develop it is 42.000 euros of municipal funds and also has the collaboration of the Canarian Federation of Restaurants.
El Tapeo, in Carrizal, Vega, in Guayadeque, La Pasadilla, in the midlands, and La Vicaría, in the historic center of Ingenio, are the four restaurants that have participated in this audit, which will last over the next 6 months. The first results will be announced on June 18, coinciding with the International Day of Sustainable Restoration.
Pioneer in the Canary Islands
Olivia Grebler, director of the company Ecocook, affirms that in the Canary Islands at the moment no restaurant has this seal, which began to be implemented 10 years ago, and emphasizes the importance of the restaurant establishments in the municipality of Villa de Ingenio “being sensitized to sustainability, they want to estimate their level of quality and the effort they make for it.”
Grebler explains that to achieve this seal “there are about 20 main criteria that must be complied with, but in total there are about 200. The idea is to see at what level of sustainability each restaurant is and ensure that little by little they reach to the first level, and as they meet other criteria they go up in level until they reach silver, golden and platinium.
Mayor Ana Hernández assures that “any step or initiative that we implement aimed at improving the quality and promotion of local gastronomy, due to the importance it has for employment and the economy of the municipality, is working in the right direction.”
The Councilor for Local Development, Domingo González, who thanks the locals who participate in achieving this seal and encourages others to do so as well, emphasizes that Gastro Ingenio takes a step forward with the help of Ecocook and the ITC, and adds that “We are working on an audit process that will demonstrate that Ingenio restaurants are sustainable and can also achieve European certification, positioning themselves as a great project for the Canary Islands and as a message of sustainability, quality, job creator and local development” .
The ITC representatives who participate in this project value Gastro Ingenio, "because it not only focuses on gastronomy, but also involves other areas such as nature and urban tourism, and the offer of rural accommodation offered by the municipality."
For their part, the managers of the four establishments that participate in this audit agree that it is not easy to obtain this Ecocook seal but they are already working along those lines, aware that this effort and work results in the quality of their establishments and the service. that they offer to their clientele.”