“The world needs permaculture restaurants…”

Dining is a magical ritual experience, specially on holidays. You may choose to reunite with friends and family to create a beautiful dining moment at any space, at any time. This moment is unique and fulfills life. Not much money is needed for this magical experience. It does not matter what your beliefs or perspectives are, everyone has the right to eat from the same dining table with no judgment, have gratitude for it and to respect one another with love.

It is also, very much fun to go out to restaurants, locally or around the world. You may enjoy traditional food as well as exotic new flavors on many occasions during the year, such as; birthdays, graduations, weddings, business meetings, romantic dinners, pre-concerts, and more. These moments may become ritual celebrations each year and magical experiences throughout life. Therefore, all the system around a restaurant, needs to be coherent and in harmony with your values, nature and the whole planet. Otherwise, celebrating won´t be fulfilled if you choose to be conscious of the negative implications when dining-out.

Observations In today´s society, it is evident that the world´s food system is a controlled monopoly and that hunger, waste, contamination and the exploitation of resources from the planet is a subject to be very concerned about. This overwhelming information, sometimes shocks most people without knowing what to do. To take action, drawing a “first idea” of what you want to see and live around your environment may be a great step.

On most dining-out experiences, there is not much thought about menu costs, nor how the food is prepared and where does this food come from. Sometimes you may listen to a neighbor guest ask if the menu is organic or if there is a vegan or gluten-free option, and that is about it. For some people, many questions stay in their minds and would prefer to not ask the “server” because it is most likely they would not get the answer. Therefore, it becomes a great idea for many individuals and families to just stay home and host their own reunion. It might even be a better experience.

Questions arise when you are more familiar with Permaculture. Such as: Is it really(1), really(2), really(3) organic? A 3 time question helps the “server” not to lie. Other questions are: Is it non-gmo? Is it local? Where does the water come from and where does it go? How long has the farm´s soil been taking care of? Does the restaurant compost their waste? What type of transportation system is being used for the food products? How are these products packaged? What kind of economy is being used between the farm and the restaurant? Is the napkin biodegradable? Is their a compost toilet?

Well, these questions may be “too much”, it might create awkward moments and they obviously won´t be answered. However, they are very important to ask, at least not all at once.

Thought If you are thinking to start a restaurant business, think twice. It is a tremendous responsibility when you choose to acknowledge all the consequences that it creates when it comes to human health and the world´s ecosystem. This article may help you better re-evaluate your business plan and make coherent and conscious decisions. One restaurant wastes about 25,000 to 75,000 pounds of food every year, vegetable oil pollution, CO2 emissions with imports and exports, food transportation, use of many industrial kitchen machines, waste large quantities of water & electricity, plus itexploits human energy with “power-over” systems which I refer to as: “military-slavery”. And there is even more to it...

Grateful However, it is often nice to enjoy a good restaurant environment, either as a cook, server, bartender or a special guest. If you look closely, it is an entire community system that creates the dining experience, plus a lot of energy from nature is involved in the production. So taking a moment to be grateful when there is food on the table, is a worthy and conscious action.

Pleasure

There is so much pleasure when eating. It may be the best feeling for any living being on the planet. “The more you like it, the more you buy it”. Most humans are lead by this extreme pleasure in order to sell more and consume more. It does not matter the exploitation of the lands and that poor quality food is being sold thru the main food supply as long as it is delicious, cheap and can be sold fast and in large quantities throughout the planet. This is “good business”. Check Cowspiracy.

Health is not a priority when producing pleasurable foods. Even vegetables, fruits and most seeds of the world are in danger, these are being controlled and manipulated by governments and large international corporations in order to control the world food supply. Check Seeds of Freedom

Consumption

Pleasure also leads to consumption, it is a big problem for the world, if not the biggest. There is no need to become a scientist to understand consumption. It is all around us, it is part of a global industrial system that exploits natural resources to benefit the plutocratic culture and capitalism. Check Democracy for the Few. These systems create deforestation, waste, pollution, radiation, extinction, health problems, poverty, overuse of energy, and much more issues that lead to Climate Change. What does every single person consume everyday?  Food.

“The most political act we do on a daily basis is to eat.”Jules Pretty

Food at the most, is no longer real food. The number one human death problem in the world is heart disease, which it mainly comes from unhealthy eating habits.  Check Forks Over Knives What you consume, does it feed you? or does it consume you? The more you ask these questions, the more you may realize how much you consume from the planet, while it also consumes you. Eating is a feeding process that is necessary for any living organism to continue life and to evolve within nature. Therefore, it is very important to know where food comes from, how it is produced and how it is prepared before feeding it into your body. Conventional food systems in the world cannot be trusted anymore, hence you might have to investigate on your own, or even better, to grow your own.

“Growing food is like printing your own money.” Ron Finley

Permaculture Permaculture is now a big international movement and it is growing fast, it began in 1978 with Bill Mollison and David Holmgren in Australia. Today, you may find hundreds of permaculture projects around the world. You may actually see, feel and live all these projects when you connect into world networks such as: NuMundo,WWOOF, GEN, CASALatina and more.  Most projects are dedicated into designing regenerative farms, eco-villages, food forests and to restore degraded landscapes into abundant ecosystems. These projects are amazing and are making big positive changes for the world. However, big cities are falling behind when it comes to making ecological impact, specially when cities are the center of consumption. Urban Permaculture is a “must” in every major city, and below are just a few examples to be inspired by:

- San Francisco - Bay Area, California is a consistent innovating city, specially when it comes to permaculture. You may find UPISF (Urban Permaculture Institute of San Francisco) that offers scientific, theoretical and practical permaculture design courses and BayArea tours to many urban and rural successful examples of Permaculture Design.

Also, in the city of Oakland, there is PLACE for sustainable living, an educational center showcasing regenerative design, urban homesteading, social justice, artistic expression and more.

- Quito - Ecuador has some urban permaculture examples such as: RGS - Red de Guardianes de Semillas (The Guardians of Seeds Network) offering PDC - Permaculture Design Courses and showcasing urban permaculture neighborhoods and rural projects throughout Ecuador.

Another great example is Centro Tinku Escuela de Permacultura, whom converted an urban park into a complete permaculture space, offering international PDC´s and tuition to the new kids permaculture school.

Similarly, with urgent need of more urban permaculture projects, the world needs permaculture restaurants. Urban businesses need to consider re-evaluating their ways of doing business and include regenerative, ecological and healthy values and principles into their practices. Most human needs are turned into business ideas that lead into exploiting natural resources, and the majority of people just choose not to care about making the connection to health and nature. It comes back to; in order to change our world, we need to change our culture. Permaculture is one great path to a regenerative lifestyle, hence health and abundance for future generations to come.

Permaculture Restaurants Do you imagine a self-sufficient & resilient restaurant? that practices zero-waste, various economies and uses just one blender machine?  There is an amazing urban example in Quito - Ecuador, Flora Restaurante Permacultural, a movement of people helping to co-create a new society thru a regenerative restaurant model. Providing delicious menus with local & fair-trade products; assuring organic, plant-based (vegan) and NonGMO (non genetically modified organisms) foods. FLORA has the main intention to inspire social change and help transform today´s degenerative culture, into a regenerative culture. Navigating deeply in the internet, you may find many eco-friendly restaurants using organic products with recycling systems and biodegradable take-out packaging. Moreover, there are a few other great examples of restaurants aligned with permaculture, agro-ecology &  plant-based cuisine. These restaurants are: Flora Restaurante Permacultural - Quito, Ecuador  Tandana - Quito, Ecuador Moksa Ubud -  Ubud, Indonesia OM Kampot - Kampot, Cambodia  Utopaille  - Les Chiers, Francia Azurmendi - Larrabezúa, España Gracias Madre - San Francisco, California. USA Restaurants like these are not easy to find, specially when traveling. Surely there are more around the world. If your restaurant is not listed and needs to be on it, please register on this form: Map Permaculture Restaurants Please register only restaurants that apply permaculture principles, agro-ecology and / or plant-based cuisine.

Invitation While this article may be helpful for many people interested in restaurant business, permaculture and regenerative design, this is also an invitation to support one of the few most innovative restaurants out there.  Flora Restaurante Permacultural needs your help collecting funds to repair the rooftop of the space, create a rainwater harvesting and irrigation system and to equip the kitchen professionally. This is vital in order for FLORA to keep functioning and growing.

FLORA is a restaurant and cultural space for art, healing, permaculture and plant-based cuisine with organic, vegan and non-gmo food. Functioning for 3 years, since January 2016. It began by the need of real organic plant-based food in the big city of Quito, it was founded by a loving couple (Paulette Ordoñez and Josué Saenz) whom are deeply committed to help regenerate life in the planet. Paulette y Josué has taken a big risk and all responsibility to kickstart, without capital, aninnovating and regenerative project that is revolutionizing our current society.Please help Flora grow by donating today, getting the word out and become part of regenerative movement.

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FLORA Crowdfunding Campaign

Today, FLORA is a family community, like “flowers that breakthrough concrete”, always finding a way to survive and extend itself; FLORA, with lots of effort, has committed itself to become a resilient permaculture restaurant in Quito - Ecuador, to provide healthy food and to help expand human consciousness. It´s final objective is to co-create new culture with like minded communities and live a conscious and regenerative lifestyle for future generations to come.

On November 28, 2018, FLORA launches “Flora Florece”, a crowdfunding campaign that will help finance the renovation of the deteriorated rooftop of FLORA´s space, to create a rain harvesting and irrigation system, as well as to equip the kitchen professionally with tools, furniture and refrigerators. This renovation will allow FLORA offer a better experience to all guests and become an inspiration for Ecuador and the rest of the World.  Without this renovation, it is difficult for Flora and it´s community to continue to grow. Please donate today,Crowdfunding Campaign “Flora Florece”.

Crowdfunding Campaign #FLORAFlorece is ready and available to receive DONATIONS in exchange of many great GIFTS - PERKS, untilJanuary 19, 2018. With your donation, you will help FLORA to continue to offer educational workshops, transformational events and conscious healthy food to local communities and travelers from around the world. ***********************

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Please comment and share. Thank you so much for reading! Next time you go out to a restaurant, please consider at least the following tips for choosing where to eat: - Organic and NonGMO options - Options for plant-based diets - Direct connection with local farms & Fair Trade practices - Ecological waste management These tips will help plenty searching for a restaurant. If found, please register it atMap Permaculture Restaurants.

********************* ARTICLE WRITTEN BY: Josué Daniel Saenz Negrete Permaculture Designer Event Producer Co-founder of: Flora Restaurante Permacultural, Tropicana Productions, Festival SEEDS, Sikuanga Eco-Village and Collective Wave ******************* ********************* All cultural cuisine, chefs, cooks, restaurant entrepreneurs, guest customers, permaculturists, farmers, students, and everyone from all over the world are welcome to read this article.  @copyright  All pictures and videos are owned by Flora Restaurante Permacultural & Collective Wave. ********************

Video Teaser - Crowdfunding Campaign Flora Florece

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VIDEO TEASER OF CAMPAIGN FLORA FLORECE Video Flora Florece / Crowdfunding MORE INFORMATION FOR CAMPAIGN FLORA FLORECE (ENGLISH) https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/flora-florece-flora-restaurante-permacultural/x/16462611#/ (SPANISH) https://www.facebook.com/events/2172462989660358/ DONATIONS & GIFTS - PERKS https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/flora-florece-flora-restaurante-permacultural/x/16462611#/ Donate TODAY to regenerative movement, with 3 steps: 1.- Make a donation / pick your gift in return 2.- Share our campaign with your circles and social media 3.- Receive Gifts INTERVIEWS AND REPORTS Contact info: collectivewave@gmail.com Josué Sáenz Tlf: +593 983117830 SOCIAL MEDIA facebook: Flora Restaurante Perma-Cultural Instagram: flora.restaurante OTHER FLORA PROJECTS Festival SEEDS Tropicana Productions Sikuanga EcoVillage OTHER RELATED INFO OF INTEREST: Import / Export Issues https://www.carbonbrief.org/mapped-worlds-largest-co2-importers-exporters https://www.foodsafetymagazine.com/categories/supply-chain-category/imports-exports/ https://www.theguardian.com/environment/datablog/2011/apr/28/carbon-emissions-imports-exports-trade El cambio climático y los alimentos: una relación de ida y vuelta ¿Qué es Permacultura?

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