Planners in pursuit of healthier and more sustainable event dining options are in luck, if their eyes are turned towards Grand Hyatt Singapore.
The hotel is positioning healthier menu choices at the forefront of its MICE offerings, with dishes that include sustainably sourced seafood and organic vegetables.
Driving the carbon footprint down
Earlier this year, Grand Hyatt Singapore started incorporating organic vegetables, sourced from Malaysia so as to reduce it’s carbon footprint, and herbs grown on the rooftop garden into its dishes.
Having the weekly 150kg order of vegetables driven from Malaysia’s Cameron Highlands, instead of being flown from Australia or Europe, has decreased the hotel’s carbon footprint to one that’s 133 times the size, so it claims.
Sustainable seafood
The hotel has also been procuring its seafood from suppliers accredited by the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) and Marine Stewardship Council (MSC). These organisations promote responsible fishing practices by certifying and regulating members of the supply chain.
ASC and MSC certified tiger prawns, oysters, lobsters and salmon have subsequently become staple ingredients in hotel’s kitchens.
In recognition of this practice, the hotel was awarded the Chain of Custody (CoC) certifications by ASC and MSC last year, making it one of the first in Asia to achieve this standard for seafood.
Attendee experience
Dishes on event menus are often now tailor-made to incorporate a combination of these ingredients.
A recent example, the sustainable Patagonian toothfish dish, was created using “sustainably caught wild MSC toothfish, roasted vegetables from the Cameron Highlands organic farms, and salsa verde sauce made using herbs plucked right from the rooftop garden,” according to executive sous chef Soren Lascelles.
Lascelles says event attendees enjoy hearing stories about the food they eat, especially when it comes to tracing the origins of organic vegetables.
Going beyond
Looking ahead, Grand Hyatt Singapore says it plans to expand upon its adoption of organic, sustainable, and low environmental impact ingredients.
With respect to other initiatives, the hotel has also launched the Biomax waste-to-fertiliser converter, which keeps hotel food wastage at zero.
More on ethical event dining here.
