The restaurateur as a sustainability pedagogue: the case of Stuart Gifford and Sarah's Sister's Sustainable Café

Abstract

With the popularity of celebrity chefs, television cooking shows, gastronomic holidays and food festivals, it is clear that people's engagement with food is developing into a significant social phenomena. People are searching for ways to secure sustainable and ethical foods and are open to learning new possibilities. This article provides a case study analysis of the work of Stuart Gifford, a long-term sustainability advocate, restaurateur and urban activist. Gifford currently is co-owner of Sarah's Sister's Sustainable Café. This restaurant features sustainability in the design principles and management of the enterprise. Gifford's commitment to sustainability advocacy and teaching permeates not only the business but is also a life commitment as he undertakes initiatives such as fostering an external eco-market, creating sustainability events associated with a major metropolitan festival, community activism and political advocacy. This article analyses the import of Gifford's efforts. Employing a qualitative research methodology, this article presents rich insights into the ways in which running a sustainable café can be read as a cultural pedagogy. Employing Giroux's theory of culture as pedagogy, Gifford's work through Sarah's Sister's is considered as an alternative cultural pedagogy intended to counter the destructive pedagogy of neoliberalism and its attendant cultural values.