The chefs

The term ‘sustainable restaurant’ would have got blank looks when these guys started out on their quest. Not any more…

1. Chantelle Nicholson

‘Conscious cooking’ is the term chef Chantelle uses to describe her Michelin Green Star restaurant, Apricity, in London. Renowned for her veg-forward dishes, she creates menus that emphasise seasonality, local produce and minimal waste in a joyful, holistic way.

Chantelle’s cooking highlights the importance of biodiversity, often including overlooked ingredients such as wild herbs, lesser-known vegetables and heirloom grains. Her food is rooted in respect for the environment, as well as a reverence for the people who grow the produce and the team working with her. Originally from New Zealand, she has become one of the leading female voices in the UK’s hospitality industry.

2. Simon Rogan

A pioneer of the farm-to-fork movement in the UK, Simon holds most of the accolades a chef could ask for, all driven by his passion for championing our natural environment. His flagship restaurant L’Enclume has three Michelin stars, just one of his four restaurants in Cumbria that showcase the Rogan philosophy of local, organic produce.

Most of the produce used is grown biodynamically at the group’s Our Farm, nestled in the fields behind the village of Cartmel. Outside his restaurants, farm and shop in Cumbria, Simon has restaurants in London, Hong Kong, Thailand and Malta.

3. Doug McMaster

Leading the charge in zero-waste restaurant cooking, Doug believes waste is avoidable, not inevitable. His London restaurant, Silo, is unwaveringly committed to waste reduction – there’s literally no bin. Every part of an ingredient is used; stems, shells and bones are just as valuable as the vegetable, seafood or meat itself. Scraps become sauces, pickles or stocks.
Behind the scenes, the restaurant operates without disposable packaging, and even the furniture is crafted from repurposed materials. Doug also applies this creativity to home cooking with his YouTube video project, Zero Waste Cooking School.

The farmers

They’ve made ‘regenerative’ the buzzword for farming in 2025 and subjects like soil depletion a fit topic for pub chat.

4. George Lamb, Andy Cato and Edd Lees, founders of Wildfarmed

Wildfarmed grows regenerative wheat to make flour and bread for restaurants, bakeries and shops through a network of UK farmers. It all began when Andy Cato, one-half of Groove Armada, sold his music rights to buy a farm in France after reading about the horrors of the industrial food system. Several years later, back on British soil and farming as a National Trust tenant, Andy founded Wildfarmed with Edd Lees and George Lamb. Their aim is to transform lives and landscapes through food and community by growing in harmony with nature. Their farmers share tips in a WhatsApp group, and grow without pesticides and fungicides to prioritise soil health and biodiversity.

5. Helen Browning, farmer and chief executive of Soil Association

A leading advocate for organic farming, Helen has been chief executive of the Soil Association since 2011. The charity works with farmers, businesses and consumers to transform the way we eat, farm and care for the natural world. Helen farms in Wiltshire, as well as being a commissioner and trustee of the Food Farming & Countryside Commission. She has held several roles in agri-politics over the years. and was awarded an OBE in 1998 for her services to organic farming.

6. Nick Saltmarsh, William Hudson and Josiah Meldrum, farmers and founders of Hodmedod’s

Founded in 2012, Hodmedod’s has reintroduced heritage crops like fava beans and carlin peas, which were historically grown in this country but largely overlooked in modern agriculture. By focusing on nutrient-rich, climate-resilient crops, the company helps farmers regenerate their soil (pulses enrich the soil in between other crops or livestock grazing), giving them an additional revenue stream and reducing the UK’s reliance on imported staples. They’ve partnered with Bold Bean Co, so you can now buy Hodmedod’s Brit-grown Queen Carlin Peas in a jar.

Read more on the positives of pulses →

7. Paul and John Cherry, farmers and founders of regenerative agricultural festival Groundswell

Brothers John and Paul Cherry have been farming Weston Park Farms in Hertfordshire for 35 years, moving to a no-till system in 2010 when they realised intensive farming methods were more damaging than productive. Dubbed the ‘Glastonbury of farming’, Groundswell came about because the brothers wanted to share their growing knowledge and learn more. Now in its eighth year, the festival is visited by over 6,500 people and plays a key role in expanding regenerative farming.

Find out more about regenerative farming →

The entrepreneurs

These forward-looking businesspeople have pointed to a better way to produce, sell and buy food in the 21st century.

8. Anshu Ahuja and Renee Williams, founders of DabbaDrop

Revolutionaries of food delivery, Anshu and Renee transformed takeaway dinners by putting health and waste at the heart of things. DabbaDrop delivers plant-based meals across London’s zones 1-3 in reusable steel dabbas, inspired by the homestyle tiffin tin meals delivered by dabbawalas in Mumbai. Each week the dabbas hold a different South Asian menu to be delivered on the day of your choice. The tins go straight in the oven to heat through or in the fridge to use another night, then are swapped for a new tiffin next time. As the orders are confirmed in advance, the food can be made with minimal waste.

9. Debbie Warner, founder of Wild Wine School

Sharing her passion and knowledge for organic and biodynamic viticulture, as well as minimal intervention wine making, Debbie Warner started Wild Wine School to give nature a seat at the table when it comes to wine education. The school offers WSET accredited courses (the global qualification), as well as workshops and supperclubs, with a focus on small, eco-conscious wine makers, taking the idea of terroir (the environmental factors that affect taste) a step further to include soil health and biodiversity.

10. Saasha Celestial-One and Tessa Clarke, founders of Olio

By connecting individuals, local businesses and community groups, Olio empowers people to give away excess food to those nearby through an app. Since launching Olio in 2015, Tessa Clarke and Saasha Celestial-One have built one of the world’s largest food-sharing networks, with millions of users across the UK and beyond. Tackling both food waste and food insecurity, the app allows users to share anything from leftover meals to excess produce from gardens. At delicious., we use it to give away leftover ingredients and meals from our test kitchen.

11. Ella Cooper and Nick Jefferson, founders of Wylde Market

Cutting out the middlemen and taking provenance seriously sets Wylde Market apart from other online retailers. The platform came about after Nick Jefferson and his family moved back to England from Spain and realised the majority of seafood caught in UK waters is exported.

Set up to bridge the gap between independent fishermen, farmers, foragers and shoppers, Wylde Market echoes an in-person market. All orders are fulfilled once a week, only available produce is listed on the website and it makes the journey to the distribution hub only when it’s been ordered. Working directly with producers that consider themselves stewards of the land or sea, the market offers a new level of transparency.

The activists

Whether they have a high public profile or work out of the media spotlight, these heroes have proved they can get things done.

12. Jyoti Fernandes, farmer and co-founder of Landworkers’ Alliance

Jyoti is an agroecological smallholder (agroecological means approaching farming in a holistic, sustainable way) in Dorset. She farms dairy cows, sheep and orchards, as well as producing cheese, cider and preserves as part of a smallholders’ cooperative.

As a co-founder and the campaigns and policy coordinator for the Landworkers’ Alliance, Jyoti advocates for policies that promote agroecology, food sovereignty and fair land access. Ensuring small farmers, often marginalised in mainstream agricultural debates, have a seat at the table when discussing food and farming policy, Jyoti campaigns for land reform, calling for more equitable land access and for policies that allow small-scale farmers to thrive and regenerate the land. She is also a trustee of the Sustain Council.

13. Dee Woods, food system actionist and chair of trustees of the Independent Food Aid Network

A community food educator, urban agroecologist, cook, researcher and organiser, Dee has been working at the intersection of diversity and food for over 25 years. She co-founded Granville Community Kitchen in Kilburn to serve her local community, sharing a veg garden, cookery lessons and healthy, sociable dinners for those who need them most.

As a passionate advocate for food and farming policy change, Dee endeavours to make nutritious food grown in harmony with nature available for all, while helping to tackle issues of land inequality and food insecurity. She sits on the London Food Board and Food Ethics Council. She’s also a trustee of the Sustain Council, a member of the Lion (Land In Our Names) collective, a policy coordinator for Landworkers’ Alliance and chair of trustees of the Independent Food Aid Network.

14. Henry Dimbleby, food campaigner and policy advisor

Having championed the need for healthier, more sustainable and ethical food choices throughout his career, Henry has had a profound impact on the nation’s relationship with food. After co-founding the restaurant chain Leon, he also co-founded the Sustainable Restaurant Association, which sets the standard for sustainable food businesses through its Food Made Good certification.

Henry has worked on food policy for better school meals, co-founded the Chefs in Schools programme and, most significantly, wrote an independent review of the UK’s food system for the government in 2020: the National Food Strategy. The review informed his bestselling book Ravenous: How To Get Ourselves And The Planet Into Shape, published in 2023. He’s now launched Bramble Partners, an investment and advisory firm that shares knowledge and capital to speed the transition to a more sustainable food system.

15. Catherine Chong, climate economist and agroecological activist

Growing up on a farm in Malaysia, Catherine saw the damage caused by herbicides, pesticides and fertilisers first hand after her father signed a contract with an industrial agriculture company that meant he had to follow their standards. Their thriving, biodiverse farm became barren, forcing her family into bankruptcy.

After studying law, Catherine is now an advisor in ecology, social and governance (ESG). She counsels companies, institutions and governments on linking corporate decisions to socio-ecological impact. During Covid, she co-founded Farms to Feed Us to champion small-scale regenerative farms, and is now the project lead for Clear, a consortium lobbying for clarity in environmental food label schemes in the UK.

Discover more ways to make sustainable changes to your diet, from eating more pulses to shopping wisely for seafood.