Sustainability in Spades
What makes a restaurant Good?
Taste bud tingling food – tick.
Stunning location – tick.
Add some attentive but not ingratiating service and that’s the three golden ingredients for a great meal, right?
Wouldn’t your chosen dishes taste even more damn delicious if you knew the ingredients came with impeccable credentials? Your enjoyment levels would ramp up several notches if you felt sure the waiter was getting their fair share of the generous tip you left too, no?
Thyme is among a growing number of restaurants and food-based businesses of all shapes and sizes, spread across the UK from Cornwall to Shetland, committed to making food Good, with a capital ‘G’. That’s food that doesn’t just taste good but does good too.
You feel in control when you’re shopping for groceries. Simply check the labels for those reassuring certifications and marques that tell you that the animals have been reared to the standards that match your principles or the farmer who grew the coffee is being paid more than a handful of beans. In the veg aisle you can pass on the asparagus that’s been flown in from South America and opt for the in-season purple sprouting broccoli grown in Sussex. And, if at the end of the meal you’ve lovingly prepared there are some leftovers, then there’s always tomorrow’s lunch and the opportunity to breathe new life into what you couldn’t finish.
Thyme proudly boasts a Three Star Food Made Good rating from the Sustainable Restaurant Association, demonstrating that it’s taking care of all of those same things that matter to you. Just like the 6,000 fish and chip shops, pubs, Michelin Starred restaurants and some high street chains that boast the same accreditation, they’ve completed an assessment of the whole business that includes the provenance of everything they put on your plate, how they treat the people that cook and serve you and what happens to any food that’s left over.
Top priority at Thyme is making maximum use of the wonderful larder on its doorstep. The chefs can step out into the kitchen garden to select seasonal veg, collect eggs from the flock of hens and make their own charcuterie with meat from their own drift of pigs. ‘Locally sourced’, has become something of a used and abused cliché on menus. Producing much of its own food and working really closely with a tight-knit group of local suppliers means Thyme’s hotel, cookery school and restaurant, The Swan, aren’t simply reducing the distance their ingredients travel, they’re helping create a dynamic, thriving food economy, built on sound principles.
The Cookery School is a shining example of a space where individuals can truly grasp the fundamentals of provenance and general sustainability, a day with Thyme’s chef-tutors, is a journey from the kitchen garden to the plate, a celebration of the principles of homegrown & homemade, where guests prepare and enjoy Good food. With a newly planted orchard, plans to expand its already abundant kitchen garden, and a nuttery in train, there’s a growing sense that the future looks bright for good food lovers in this corner of the Cotswolds.
Our membership is wide and varied, full of restaurants and food enterprises that share ours and Thyme's values. To learn more about the SRA visit our website, or speak to any of the staff at Thyme about what our association means.
