A Sustainable Chef | Op-Docs | The New York Times

I remember seeing my father

take a rifle and put it to

the head of an animal

to kill it, for our dinner.

It's kinda terrifying, as a kid,

but you're never in any doubt

where food comes from

and the connection of it.

Part of wanting to

run a restaurant like Attica

is wanting to reconnect people

with it as well

People might not think that

cooks matter in the greater

scheme of things.

But, in my experience,

a lot of stuff filters down

from the top.

It's probably over 200,000 downloads

of the menu on our website

And there's nowhere near that

amount of people coming in.

And so, that tells me

that people are not just looking

at our menu because they're

thinking about planning a dinner here

They're looking at our menu for inspiration

whether that be in their resturant

or be at home.

This small piece of literature with

these eight courses on it

has massive influence on people.

Therefore if I had ingredients

which were unsustainabile,

which were of negative impact

to the environment,

then I'm...I'm contributing to that damage.

And I don't want that on

my conscience.

In the 11 or 12 years that

I've been cooking in Australia,

the species of fish that were

available to us very readily

and very easily...

they're not as easy to get anymore.

Bass grouper fish that I love to cook

their reproductive cycle doesn't begin

until later into their life,

but most of the fish being taken

are juvenile, because the juveniles are

closer to the surface and easier to catch.

There have been fish close

to the point of commerical extinction.

That led me to, you know,

I guess a moment of reflection

probably five years ago.

Instead of continuing to serve the fish

that I've always served

I decided to take them all

off the menu.

I always look for suppliers

who have a similar passion to me

and a dedication and ethics.

And so when I met Lance Wiffen

I sensed some of myself in him.

He believes that it's never

good enough.

He thinks that it can

get better and it can get better.

And of course I feel that same way

about my own work.

I thought I knew all

about mussels.

And I didn't really know that there was like

going to be a whole 'nother level of mussel.

The blue mussels that are grown

in Port Philip Bay where Lance farms...

they were...like nothing I

had ever eaten before.

It was like the essence

of the sea, captured in

one tiny morsel.

Mussels we can grow in

a very sustainable manner,

they have almost nil negative impact

to the environment.

It's half the price of chicken,

and infinitely better for you,

and infinitely more sustainable.

It's really great to be

able to promote an ethical,

sustainable ingredient and tell people

that this is something that

you should consider eating.

I'd been thinking for...

a couple of weeks about the

difference between a fish

that's a better choice, and a fish

that is a bad choice.

The King George Whiting from

Corner Inlet is a small,

fast-growing fish.

You're far better off to eat

a fish which reproduces very

early in its life,

and is a short-lifed fish anyway.

It was the first fish dish that I did

after having fin fish off the menu

completely for two years.

The responsibility of a cook

is to set a really good example

that food is not an infinite resource.

If you're cooking well,

you'll always take into account nature.

So, in some ways, through cooking

I've found my ideal connection

to nature.