Monday, December 13, 2010

Eco Friendly Diners

Eco-friendly floating restaurants serving sustainable seafood are on the menu for marinas around the world, in a bid to tackle the crisis caused by commercial over-fishing.

The first of these fundraising rafts, the "SS Plastic Dining Room," launched earlier this year in Vancouver, Canada, and now plans are afoot for a fleet of similar floating restaurants in major world cities including Auckland, Cape Town and London.

Nestled among a cluster of luxury yachts in the exclusive False Creek Yacht Club marina in Vancouver, "SS Plastic Dining Room" has so far raised just under $100,000 in support of the School of Fish Foundation, whose goal is to get sustainable seafood programs in culinary schools worldwide.

"We hope that after the first generation of chefs graduate from culinary school armed with a full knowledge of sustainable fishing, then we'll soon start to see a major shift in what's being served on people's plates," Shannon Ronalds, who established the foundation in March of this year, told CNN.

With diners paying $205 a head for a six-course seafood spread prepared by Canadian chef Robert Clark, Ronalds says the menu balances luxury dining with the highest ecological concerns.

Kept afloat by 1,675 repurposed 2-liter plastic bottles, the boat's wooden framework is made of recycled damaged cedar, while the transparent floor pane -- which allows patrons to peer at the colorful bottles in the hull -- is made from recycled Plexiglas.

2 comments:

  1. http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/10/21/plastic.dining.rooms/index.html?iref=allsearch

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  2. This is a really awesome concept. But with a meal costing $205 I dont think its a business tthat would suceed in the long run. People don't want to pay for seafood that is that expensive even when it is for a good enviromental cause.

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