14 November 2017

Sustainable dish competition

Eurostar, the cross-Channel high speed passenger rail service, joined forces with GoodPlanet Foundation (France), GoodPlanet Belgium and the Young People’s Trust for the Environment (YPTE), earlier this year to launch a culinary challenge across the UK, France and Belgium.
 
Over the summer, young people aged between 15 and 19 years old were encouraged to create a sustainable Business Premier dish with the winning meal to feature on the Eurostar Business Premier class menu for three months from April 2018.
 
The challenge has been designed to encourage young people to create a lunch or dinner dish, which is not only delicious but well-balanced, seasonal and nutritious, appealing to the discerning business traveller. The contenders were also asked to demonstrate a strong understanding of the provenance of the ingredients and the sustainability of the dish.
 
Mathieu Coiffard, a 17-year old French student from Perigueux, impressed judges with his rustic yet modern dish featuring sustainable ingredients of local provenance.
 
Raymond Blanc, OBE, the renowned Michelin starred chef, Eurostar Business Premier Culinary Director and President of the Sustainable Restaurant Association (SRA), led the judging panel of experts from the supporting organisations. 
 
Raymond Blanc, OBE, said:
“We were all very impressed with the entries for our very first culinary competition and are proud to award Mathieu Coiffard the winning title. His dish best exemplifies a truly sustainable meal, which looks delicious and will make a welcome addition to the Business Premier menu. I look forward to working with him on the introduction of his dish to the Eurostar menu next year.”
 
Mathieu Coiffard, winner of the Eurostar competition, said:
"It's a great honour for my school, the École Hôtelière du Périgord in France, and I to win this competition. I’ve worked really hard with the support of my teacher, Loic Perrucaud, to develop a recipe that respects sustainable and seasonal food from our local area while being tasty and easy to serve on board Eurostar. I look forward to joining Raymond Blanc early next year so we can work together to incorporate our dish onto the Eurostar Business Class menu.”
 
Marc Noaro, Chief Customer Officer at Eurostar, said:
“We’re delighted to crown Mathieu Coiffard as the winner of our Create a Business Premier dish competition for his innovative entry. As a business with a strong sense of environmental responsibility, we hope that this competition will help encourage the younger generation to adopt more sustainable ways of cooking.”
 
The environmental organisations supporting this initiative, Good Planet Foundation (France), GoodPlanet Belgium and the YPTE, are all committed to educating young people about the importance of sustainability. It is estimated that the emissions from food systems and livestock production contribute 25% - 28% and 18% of total greenhouse gas emissions respectively.  This culinary challenge plays an important role in raising awareness of these issues among young people.
 
For further information, please visit http://www.eurostar-csr.com/en/competition.php
 
Ends
Notes to Editors:
About Eurostar

• Eurostar is the high-speed train service linking St Pancras International, Ebbsfleet International, Ashford International, Paris, Brussels, Lille, Calais, Disneyland Resort Paris, Lyon, Avignon, Marseille and the French Alps.
• Eurostar was established in 1994 as a partnership between three railway companies, SNCF, SNCB and LCR (London and Continental Railways). On 1 September 2010, Eurostar became a single, unified corporate entity owned by three shareholders: SNCF, SNCB and LCR.  LCR’s holding was transferred to the Treasury in 2014, and sold by the UK government to a consortium comprising Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec (CDPQ) and Hermes Infrastructure on 28 May 2015.
• Eurostar and Eurotunnel are entirely separate companies.  Eurostar operates high-speed passenger trains, while Eurotunnel operates vehicle shuttle services and the Channel Tunnel itself.  Eurostar is Eurotunnel’s biggest customer.
• Eurostar’s Business Premier offers the highest standards in cross-channel train travel.  With fully flexible fares, Business Premier customers can enjoy a 10 minute express check-in, exclusive access to the business lounges, plus complementary drinks and fine dining all served in the comfort of their own seat.

www.eurostar.com
 
About the GoodPlanet Foundation

• An extension of Yann Arthus-Bertrand’s artistic work and environmental commitment, the GoodPlanet Foundation, a recognised public interest foundation, aims to make ecology a central topic in order to encourage people to take action for the Earth and its inhabitants.
• Founded in 2005, The GoodPlanet Foundation develops artistic (7 billion Others, HUMAN etc) and educational projects to raise awareness among the general public worldwide.
• In 2015 GoodPlanet Foundation launched the programme “The solution on a platter!” which prompted 60 solutions and 100 concrete initiatives for responsible food choices.
• Its United Carbon Action Programme has allowed the GoodPlanet Foundation to support
• 18 solidarity and environmental projects in 13 countries since 2006, and has notably enabled the construction of over 6,000 bio-gas reservoirs to benefit more than 15,000 people.
• In July 2015, the Paris City Council entrusted the Domaine de Longchamp to the Foundation for a 30-year period to turn it into a site dedicated to ecology and humanism, open to all.
• The GoodPlanet Foundation has been awarded the IDEAS Label for its rigorous governance, transparent financial and programmes efficiency.

www.goodplanet.org
 
About GoodPlanet Belgium:

• GoodPlanet Belgium inspires young and old to help create a sustainable society by sharing expertise and taking positive action.
• GoodPlanet develops and supports projects, trainings and teaching packages on all sustainability themes. To this end, fifty co-workers and dozens of volunteers from all over the country devote their knowhow and passion for sustainable development on a daily basis. Annually, GoodPlanet reaches some 350,000 children, youngsters and adults.
• GoodPlanet is the Belgian partner of the GoodPlanet Foundation set up by the famous French film director and photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand.
• This partnership creates new synergies: a strong message to inspire more and more people to choose the sustainable society, illustrated by Yann Arthus-Bertrand’s impressive stills and moving images.

www.goodplanet.be
 
About The Young People’s Trust for the Environment:

• The Young People’s Trust for the Environment (YPTE) is a registered charity that aims to create a better future by inspiring young people to look after our world. 
• We provide a huge range of free environmental information on our website, which is written for young people and teachers, but also useful to adults wanting to find out more about key issues.  Our materials include an expanding range of educational videos, lesson plans and presentations for use in classrooms. 
• In 2016, enough of YPTE’s online lesson plans were downloaded to have reached around 540,000 young people in classrooms across the UK and beyond. In the same year, 1.25M people downloaded 2.5M pages of our information. 
• We also provide school visits in Dorset and Somerset, delivering free presentations on environmental issues.

www.ypte.org.uk