A few instances include their elimination of single-used plastic, bottling their own house-filtered water to minimize excess garbage as well managing waste responsibly. And his hard work has paid off as many of his initiatives were later adopted by the entire Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group. “We, humans or society, decided that the world would be better if we changed things like… (using) the most ethical and sustainable ingredients whilst minimizing its carbon footprint,” says Chef Ekkebus as he gives an example. “As a city of almost 8 million people; Hong Kong eats the most meat per capita in the world. Hong Kong is the largest market for industrially-farmed
Brazilian beef, which is blamed for the deforestation in the Amazon,” he continued. “The problems we’re facing aren’t new, but they’ve become more urgent.” To that end, they have also completely eliminated the use of dairy in their menu as a lot of milk products are not produced ethically. A gourmand may ask, “how can they do that while keeping the smoothness of a dish?” “I wanted to ensure our food maintained a richness in the mouth; to ensure the flavor would linger in the mouth. Elytra virgin plant-based oils have offered that solution,” he says, adding that it also effected a “huge reduction in carbon foot print.” Outside of work, Chef Ekkebus is an avid reader and an accomplished mountaineer who planned to climb the Everest this year until the pandemic changed his plans. He gained a lot of clarity after reading Jonathan Saffran Foer’s book Eating Animals a few years ago. It touched on topical health issues like SARS and MERS,
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