Eat fried green tomatoes, fight climate change at this South Miami restaurant
Fried green tomatoes have something in common with efforts to reduce the effects of climate change. It’s the Tropical Audubon Society’s Sixth Annual “Dine Out” at Whisk Gourmet Summer Series.
Every second Tuesday through August beginning on June 13, Whisk Gourmet Food & Catering will donate 10 percent of revenue from dinner orders to the Tropical Audubon Society. The South Miami restaurant has earned acclaim as a taste of the South with fresh ingredients and thoughtful menu items. Owners, siblings Brendan and Kristin Connor, have partnered with Tropical Audubon Society for several years in its mission to conserve South Florida’s natural ecosystems.
Places like the Everglades, Biscayne Bay and Miami-Dade County’s Pine Rocklands habitat are in need of sustained attention, Erin Clancy, conservation director of Tropical Audubon Society, said. And there’s no denying the science, Clancy said, especially because the changes to South Florida’s animal species are glaring.
“We see evidence of climate change and sea level rise,” she said. “It is impacting different bird populations – shoreline and even inland – their migration patterns have been impacted by climate change and their habitats have been impacted by sea level rise.”
Whisk is tackling environment issues from multiple angles. First, by donating funds to Tropical Audubon Society’s conservation efforts and second, by trying to eliminate plastic waste through the introduction of a straw-free initiative.
How important is that? Clancy said she encourages everyone to join a beach clean up just to see how damaging straws and other single-use plastics can be to the environment: South Florida’s shorelines are littered “almost exclusively with small pieces of plastic,” she said. About 8 million tons of plastic end up in the planet’s oceans, according to research published in the journal “Science.” Most of the waste – about 85 percent according to Clancy – was on land first.
Patrons at Whisk are welcome to request a straw, Brendan Connor said, but they often change their minds when they become aware of the wide-ranging effects of pollution. With the straw-free initiative and accompanying literature, Brendan said the team at Whisk is just doing its part to make the world a better place.
“I love the restaurant business in nearly every capacity, but we do create a tremendous amount of waste so we need to do everything we can to mitigate that,” he said. “I just don’t want to sit idly by and be wasteful of my environment and what I’m creating and leaving for my children.”
IF YOU GO
When: June 13, July 11 and Aug. 8
Where: 7382 SW 56th Avenue, South Miami, FL 33143
Menu: The “Dine Out” series applies only to dinner. Find a menu here
The “Dine Out” program isn’t just for patrons who can dine in at Whisk. People interested in participating can also order take out.
This story was originally published June 9, 2017 at 9:06 PM.