The Land of Bigger and Better...

I spent a week in the state where everything is bigger and better (aka Texas) with my sister and her boyfriend. While they are nursing students by day they turn into food critics by night. If nursing school were to go south (which lets pray it doesn't- graduation is only a few short weeks away!) they would qualify to be some kick-butt food critics (their words, turned PG). 

Friday night we ventured out on to the town, in search of a dinner I could eat. With my nice assortment of food allergies and intolerances, dining out is quite a feat and in some cases has proved to be impossible. Armed with a phone, a gluten-free restaurant app and a GPS we finally located a restaurant. Finally! 

Dinner that night was at Ruggle's Green, Houston's first certified Green Restaurants. Dinner was nothing short of amazing. Food options were more then a bowl of lettuce. Food was organic. I had a wide range of choices from pizza to pasta to sandwiches. Everything was prepared fresh, food was piping hot and most of the food was locally sourced. Sugar was minimally used and most sweeteners came from organic honey or organic sugar cane. The soda had no chemicals, condiments were made on site. The list goes on and on, but that is not the point of this blog post! (Except, if you are in Houston anytime soon- give them a try!) 

While the food was a delightful part of the experience and eating organic, locally sourced food nourished my body, their green philosophy was even more exciting. Formed in 2008, Ruggles Green is a four-star certified green restaurant. So what makes them green? According to the Dine Green regulations, an establishment must create programs in Energy, Water, Waste, Disposables, Chemical & Pollution reduction, Sustainable Furnishing and Building Materials. In all, conservation methods must be employed in every step of a restaurant: from building it to running it. 


So what does Ruggle's Green do? Well they: 
1. Don't use any styrofoam 
2. Covert fry oil into biofuel
3. Utilize all recycling programs
4. Purchase and sell organic and mostly locally sourced food
5. Get employees in on the conservation: from organic uniforms to giving them 'green' living classes
...And the list goes on! 

Seeing how much they go out of the way to conserve, it made me curious as to how much traditional restaurants waste. It's appalling. Some of the most shocking include:
1. Americans alone waste between 50 to 90 million pounds of food each year!
2. Restaurants in the United States are the LARGEST consumer of electricity. 


3. The prepared food industry makes up 10% of our economy- they dictate what we eat, what we breathe, how we do things, etc. 

And this is only the start! So before you dine out, consider how your purchase will hurt or support the environment. Your every move makes an impact!