Across the Atlantic, a true sustainable restaurant perches in the heart of the Swiss countryside backed by the Alps and in the heart of Fürstenau (officially the world’s smallest town), Schloss Schauenstein looks as though it has come straight from the pages of a picture book. When a setting is this good, it comes with a responsibility to look after it and Andreas Caminada is a head chef who takes this responsibility very seriously indeed. It’s a restaurant that speaks to its locale perfectly. The ’Schloss’ – Swiss-German for ‘castle’ – is a sprawling estate that features orchards, woods and land for hunting. As much produce as possible is sourced from within the castle grounds and in excess of 30% (even more in the summer) of the vegetables, fruits and herbs used here are grown and harvested by the team in their three greenhouses and sprawling gardens. The chef also works closely with organic farmer Marcel Foffa, whose vegetable farm and greenhouses are just a mile from the restaurant.
The restaurant has arranged several co-operatives with local smallholdings which grow vegetables to order. But the sustainability doesn’t stop at the pass. The restaurant roasts its own coffee, having built a small roastery next to the castle, and the restaurant bakes its own organic bread in the new wood-fired bakery at Casa Caminada in the castle grounds. It’s Adreas Caminada’s vision to one day being entirely self-sufficient, and he is making moves in exactly the right direction.
Caminada’s restaurant is the perfect example of a progressive kitchen of the future. In an isolated location that could be deemed nigh-on impossible to produce a restaurant with such sustainability credentials, the Schloss Schauenstein team have achieved a restaurant that leads the way in every element of environmental credentials and is a worthy winner of the Sustainable Restaurant Award.
In terms of power, the restaurant uses 100% renewable energy making use of hydro energy and hydroelectricity to power every element of the restaurant and its hotel rooms. All local produce arrives in reusable packaging (baskets and glass) and all the remaining packing is collected by a local firm who convert it into renewable energy.