Conscious Choice: America's First Certified Organic Restaurant

November 1999 | Hightower Lowdown

America's First Certified Organic Restaurant

by Jim Hightower

A restaurant in Austria attempted an English translation of its house specialty: "As for the tripe served here," boasted a notice, "you will be singing its praises to your grandchildren on your deathbed."

Uh...I’ll pass on the tripe.

We’ve all eaten at places where we wondered if we’d survive the experience, but now there’s one restaurant in America where you can at least know you won’t get any pesticide poisoning. It’s Restaurant Nora in Washington, DC, where the owner/chef, Nora Pouillon, has just achieved a remarkable milestone. Her namesake place, deservedly famous for great food, has also become the first to be "certified organic."

Many food products and entire farms have been certified organic, but Nora’s is the first restaurant. To get this designation, she had to demonstrate to a certifying authority that more than 95 percent of all ingredients in her pantry come from farmers and processors who themselves have been certified organic. It was not too difficult for her to obtain organic vegetables, fruits, meat, breads, cheese, and eggs, but she had to go to Madagascar to find certified organic peppercorns, and to Brittany to get organic sea salt. Other ingredients and condiments took some serious searching, too — like organic olive oil, butter, mushrooms, flour, sugar and spices — as did a good stock of organic wines and organic coffee. But, two years after she began, she got the coveted certificate she sought.

Do her customers care? Not all of them, but the important thing is that Nora cares. For her, it’s about respect for food itself, for the people who eat in her restaurant, for the small farmers and artisans who produce this pure bounty, and for the earth. She’s a pioneer, contributing to a healthier world. Thanks to Nora’s extraordinary efforts, other restaurateurs will be able to follow the path she has blazed, using some of the same supply sources she has developed, and increasing the market for organic production.

Jim Hightower is a columnist and author. To subscribe to The Hightower Lowdown, send $15, and your name, and address to: Lowdown, P.O. Box 20596, New York, NY 10011. Visit his web site for more info.

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