2007-09-25 - Ming Pao Daily News
By: Lili Su
A Green Restaurant
* translated *
People talk a lot about taking care of the environment these days – issues like reducing driving, reducing emissions, searching for spiritual purity – and now “environmental protection” becomes important even the on the dinner table.
Today we invite the Cactus Club Cafe to demonstrate the trend of the “Green Dinner Table” for us: using simple procedures as well as organic and ingredients with low environmental impact. Let us not just enjoy the good food, but also protect the environment through our bodies, both inside and out.
Green Cactus - Cactus Club Cafe
There are 17 Cactus Club Cafe locations in British Columbia and Alberta, all fashionable, innovative and unique. Walk into any one of the restaurants, and you will experience the mystique and fashionable atmosphere created by the dark ambience. The art displays and unique food show that this is a one-of-a-kind restaurant.
Cactus is one of the few restaurants that has its own "Test Kitchen." The job of Product Development Chef Dan Close is to invent new dishes in this kitchen and then train chefs from other locations to ensure the same quality of the food is presented on the table.
Similar to other fusion restaurants, customers at Cactus can have anything from a hamburger to Hawaiian, Japanese, Chinese, South Asian, South American or native style items.
In the last two years, following the wake up call for environmental protection, Cactus has mobilized the concept of the “Green Dinner Table” by pioneering the Green Table Network with others in the food industry hoping to reduce the human damage to the environment.
“Instead of using wild salmon, Cactus has switched the salmon raised in inland farms. We make sure that in these farms, each fish has enough living space in low density and that the feeding method meets organic standards,” said Dan Close.
Cactus also cooperates with the fish suppliers: instead of using disposable plastic [in shipping], they now use reusable containers. Cactus also uses an improved water filtering system that changes the water flow pressure to reduce water consumption. The detergents and the different kinds of containers used in the restaurant are made with materials that are biodegradable. Cactus predicts that all its restaurants will reach Green Table certification in the coming year.