Being conscious of food sustainability issues encouraged Jackie Beard to make Blind Faith Cafe one of her off-campus date spots.
The cafe, 525 Dempster St., and other environmentally conscious Evanston restaurants give students a way to support the green movement, the Weinberg senior said.
“Mostly it’s about knowing that the food you’re eating is sustainable and the farmer is making a fair wage,” said Beard, who acts as service chair for Students for Ecological and Environmental Development.
Spreading the word about local green restaurants is becoming the newest part of Evanston’s efforts to be environmentally conscious.
Business Alliance for a Sustainable Evanston generated awareness about local green restaurants through the Green Restaurant Crawl on Tuesday night. The event gave residents a chance to sample food and wine at Blind Faith Cafe, Quince at the Homestead and Vinic Wine, as well as to learn more about the sustainable food movement in Evanston, BASE volunteer Paige Finnegan said.
Blind Faith Cafe, which offered samples of its vegetarian fare at the restaurant crawl, considered itself a green restaurant before it became a trend, owner David Lipschutz said.
“Up until recently anyone could say they were green,” Lipschutz said. “Now there’s a body of rules and criteria to be certified green.”
The restaurant has a two-star rating through the Green Restaurant Association, which means that it not only gets food locally, but it also recycles materials, uses environmentally friendly cleaning products and tries to limit its water waste, Lipschutz said.
Evanston resident Lisa Schilling attended the event and learned more about restaurants with locally sourced food. Schilling, an actuary, said that although green restaurants appeal to her, she also eats at other places.
“I like the idea, but I really like food and I’m critical of it,” Schilling said. “I consider it a selling point, but I’m not going to limit myself.”
Eating at green restaurants also poses a challenge because Evanston only has a handful of them, she said.
Edzo’s Burger Shop, 1571 Sherman Ave., does not label itself as a green restaurant, but it offers customers the choice to have grass-fed beef or natural beef from a farm in Wisconsin, owner Eddie Lakin said.
Even though most customers care more about the taste and price of the burger than where it comes from, some customers choose to “upgrade” their beef because of the health benefits, he said.
“People in Evanston are willing to pay more for it,” Lakin said. “I try to turn people on to this sort of thing and educate them.”
For Northwestern students, proximity to campus and price are often greater priorities than sustainability, SEED co-chair Dylan Lewis said.
While SEED often pairs up with Evanston businesses and organizations for environmental projects, it has not done much work with green restaurants, he said.
“It’s just not something we’re overly aware of right now,” the Communication senior said.
Associating products or businesses with the word green can appeal to college students, he said.
“It can be effective, but I have to take it with a grain of salt,” Lewis said. “It’s an effort and I like to see it.”
