Positive plates

Meet the chefs and restaurateurs using food to make a meaningful difference in society, fostering change with each delicious mouthful

- TONY NAYLOR

Pandemics change societies and Covid-19 created a new atmosphere in hospitality. The charitable feats of lockdown opened the industry's eyes to the positive impact restaurants can have in communities, and renewed focus on those kitchens which, as well as serving us thrilling food, also push for progressive social change. This is olive's salute to those restaurants nourishing wider society - call it food for good.

SUSTAINABILITY FOR ALL

OPEN KITCHEN, MANCHESTER This café-bar at the People's History Museum is best known for intercepting potential waste food, producing a modish, small-plates menu featuring Vietnamese rolls, mozzarella arancini and mushroom tarts with confit garlic. From wage rates (Living Wage Foundation and above), to buying minimal meat, Open Kitchen and its catering arm seeks to make sustainable decisions at all levels, says founder Corin Bell: "Every time you spend money you're voting for or against something." Corin is also adamant that everyone deserves to eat sustainable food, not just wealthier, middle-class foodies. To that end, this not-for-profit social enterprise is involved in numerous projects, ranging from an affordable, hyper-local South Manchester café aimed at older local residents, to providing meals for families in temporary housing, who often "barely have a kettle and microwave". "To get sustainability taken seriously we need to mainstream [it]," says Corin, which includes making “nutritious food accessible to people on low incomes". Small plates, £3.50-£6; openkitchenmcr.co.uk

COOKING UP SECOND CHANCES