Vegetarian recipes reign supreme in Spanish restaurants that are among the top positions in the We’re Smart Green Guide world ranking.
Two Spanish chefs and their restaurants are among the top ten in the world for the We’re Smart Green Guide, which rewards restaurants that give all the importance they deserve to vegetables and fruits.
The We’re Smart World organization visits every hundred restaurants around the world. The team evaluates restaurants where menus are composed of at least two-thirds fruits and vegetables, and dishes are prepared with seasonal ingredients, culinary creativity and minimal or positive ecological and social impact. The best restaurants are awarded with 1 to 5 radishes.
We’re Smart World was founded in 1989 by Frank Fol, chef, consultant on healthy, balanced, plant-based nutrition. Fol travels the world defending the motto “Think vegetables! Think fruits!” He is a member of the Feed the planet committee of World chefs, Knight of the Order of Leopold II and Food Defender of the World Food Program of the United Nations.
TWO SPANISH RESTAURANTS IN THE WE’RE SMART TOP 10
In the We’re Smart Green Guide of 2022, two Spanish restaurants occupy very prominent positions. The list of the top 10 was announced at the Gastronomic Forum held recently in Barcelona.
RODRIGO DE LA CALLE’S GREENHOUSE: SECOND BEST VEGETABLE RESTAURANT IN THE WORLD
Chef Rodrigo de la Calle has taken second place in the world ranking for his work at El Invernadero. ” Everything is fine from start to finish, everything has been thought out to be the best it can be for our bodies, the planet and, most importantly, the taste,” say the critics of the We’re Smart Green Guide, who have boosted Rodrigo de la Calle from 34th place in 2021 to second place in 2022.
De la Calle’s cuisine is a unique plant-based experience accompanied by personalized homemade fermented wines, kombuchas, kefirs and other products as surprising as celery cava.
Rodrigo de la Calle has declared that the award means a lot to him, recognizes everything he has done for green cuisine in Spain and opens the doors of the international scene. It is a prize that motivates him and that allows him to continue earning a living with his culinary ideals.
RODRIGO DE LA CALLE: WHAT IS HIS GREEN CUISINE LIKE
Rodrigo de la Calle, who also has a Michelin star among his awards, has invented astrobotany to defend the relevance of vegetables in haute cuisine, research and the search for new ingredients with the collaboration of biologist Santiago Orts.
De la Calle has passed through the kitchens of some of the best chefs in Spain: The Mugaritz of Andon Luis Aduriz, the pastry workshop of the master Paco Torre Blanca, El Poblete of Quique DaCosta and the Lazare of Martín Berasategui, whom he considers his great teacher.
In 2015 he inaugurated El Invernadero, in a small glazed enclosure in the middle of the garden of a nineteenth-century house, where he cooked for only four tables and 8 people, served by the chefs themselves, without room service. In 2018 he moved to Madrid, to Ponzano Street, with the same basic idea: to work essentially with seasonal and local ingredients, incorporating some vegetables alien to our culinary culture.
It currently offers three menus: Vegetarian, entirely vegetable; Green, specially designed for vegetarians and vegans; Red, which, being essentially vegetable, offers the possibility of finishing the meal with meat; and Blue, with fish.
WHAT IS THE BEST VEGETABLE RESTAURANT IN THE WORLD IN 2022?
The answer is De Niew Winkel, in Nijmegen (Netherlands). The innovation and quality of this restaurant under the direction of Emile van der Steak, does not stop developing, according to the critics of the We’re Smart Green Guide.
Van der Steak works with a botanist, Outer van Eck, to discern what is edible in the plant kingdom and bring it to the table. After travelling around the world to understand all culinary cultures, Van der Steak has gathered enough knowledge to make the most of the products of his environment in the Netherlands.