From the Ground Up

On a visit to Stockholm, Betsy Andrews meets a group of chefs who are reimagining their menus around the concept of zero-waste cooking, turning kitchen scraps into dishes that are appetizing-and good for the planet.

- Betsy Andrews

INSIDE A HAUTE VEGAN restaurant connected to a nightclub beneath a bridge in wintry Stockholm, I was having one heck of a meal. Using such kitchen wizardry as dehydrating, smoking, fermenting, and jam-making, the chefs behind the Hamnvakten neighborhood restaurant Växthuset (restaurang vaxthuset.se; prix fixe from $65) had preserved every bit of fresh produce they could from Sweden's growing season-roughly May through October-to brighten the December gloom. Bracing horseradish powder and pickled mustard seeds balanced earthy beet carpaccio dappled with sweet pear jam. Confit of grilled mushrooms got a sly pop of baby shiso. Jerusalem-artichoke chips and sauerkraut mayo amped up the umami of smoked tempeh. It could've been a meal served at any fine-dining restaurant-except it made liberal use of kitchen scraps, with every vegetable peel or herb stem utilized in some form.

I found a similar sense of vivaciousness everywhere I ate in the Swedish capital. Outside, the clouds hung low in the frigid air and the sky was dark by 3 p.m. But inside, the restaurants felt positive and vibrant. This city on the Baltic Sea is in the throes of a no-waste dining revolution that combines age-old Swedish ingenuity with 21st-century concern about our impact on the planet, and it's pushing chefs to get creative.

Some credit goes to the Swedish government, which has committed to meeting the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal of halving food waste by 2030, and some to the world's most famous climate activist. "Greta Thunberg has made us more aware," said Filip Lundin, the founder of Sopköket (sopkoket.se; entrées $10), a catering service and café whose name translates to "waste kitchen." A third of Swedish food is thrown away, Lundin told me, adding that it constitutes 10 percent of the country's emissions. "It's more than air travel."