The whole concept of the restaurant is built on sustainability.
Restaurant Haerverk, Aarhus
Briefly tell us how you work with sustainability at Haerverk
The whole concept of the restaurant is built on sustainability, so it applies to everything we do. From the produce being 100 percent organic and local, to the cleaning supplies being free from microplastics and chemicals that damage our oceans and drinking water. We teach our staff from the beginning what we do and why we do it, so everyone knows why we think it’s important to work sustainably.
How much of the menu is organic produce (average per year)?
100 percent of our produce is organic, and the majority is from local producers within a radius of 40 kilometers from the restaurant.
Does the staff meet producers and suppliers to gain in-depth knowledge of certain products and producers?
Yes. As I stated in the previous answer, all staff visit the farms and producers we work with multiple times, either to pick vegetables or to help in the field for a week to give everyone a better understanding of the work that goes into making the crops we enjoy at the restaurant. We feel that it gives us all a greater appreciation and respect for the produce.
What requirements do you have for the meat you serve at the restaurant?
The meat we serve is what we consider the most sustainable sources. In the game season, we only serve regulated game from local hunts. Be it wild poultry or deer, the hunters make up what we serve from September until February when the season ends and the last deer has been served. When it’s not game season, we serve only organic animals that have uses other than just being born for meat production. For instance, we sometimes get pork from one of our vegetable producers, Vigge and Astrid at “Sommergrønt”, who keep pigs to root their vegetable fields. Sometimes they have too many pigs and need to butcher some, and we take a couple from them then. Other examples would be with milk production. Bull calves born into milk production or old milking cows are taken in on a farm we work with called “Kannegård”, where they let them grass feed and live out their days until they are ready for butchering. On top of that, the manure from “Kannegård” is used in the organic vegetable production at “Sommergrønt”.
