McMaster - Silo: the zero waste blueprint: a food system for the future

A FOOD SYSTEM FOR THE FUTURE

DOUGLAS MCMASTER

THE PLANET NEEDS THIS BOOK SO SAY THE PIONEERS, THE VINDICATORS AND THE MAVERICKS

Ive always said that its in a chefs DNA to utilize what would otherwise be thrown away. We are hardwired to take the uncoveted and make it delicious. But Doug McMaster is on another level entirely he is doing some of the most thorough and thoughtful work on food waste today. This book gives you more than a glimpse into his mind. It provides a much needed roadmap for a future of limited resources and growing demands.

Dan Barber, Chef and Co-owner
Blue Hill at Stone Barns

This is a book I cannot wait to dive into. Doug and Silo have been a strong source of inspiration for the culture that we have created around this way of thinking at Amass. The ideas and principles that are put forth in this book should be a playbook that the whole industry strives to emulate.

Matthew Orlando, Head Chef/Owner
Amass Restaurant, Copenhagen

The universe needs people that think and act like Dougie.

Lee Tiernan, Head Chef
Black Axe Mangal, London

When facing a dire and uncertain future with immediate climatic changes our habits often impede us from making any radical change. Our industry and our planet need pioneers like Doug McMaster to challenge those habits and the ways we look at our daily work. The way Silo is spearheading the Zero Waste movement is an inspiration to us professional chefs and, with this book, will hopefully inspire you to reconsider your footprint, your waste and your cooking.

Christian F. Puglisi, Co-owner
Rel Copenhagen

There are some people who initiate ideas, and then there are some mavericks that refuse to stand still, or simply accept a spotlight of a fading fame; Doug is very much the second of these. Not only did he challenge conventions and prove something to the world (namely that sustainability was not only crucial, but that it could be delicious, exciting, honest and everyday), but he refused to sit still with it. This book is what the world has needed; not a passion project or a curiosity, a genuine blueprint for how we can all do better and how we can use food and drink to improve our world. To say this is crucial, and to say Im excited is an understatement!

Ryan Chetiyawardana, Mr Lyan, Owner,
Super Lyan/Co-owner, Cub, London

THERE ARE A LOT OF COOKBOOKS IN THE WORLD, THIS IS NOT ANOTHER. ITS DESIGNED TO BE PICKED UP FOR A SHORT TIME, BUT ALSO FOR A LONG TIME.

Each page is its own little ecosystem that can survive on its own, be it in the form of literature, diagrams, photography or illustration. That said, everything is connected, a web of life serving one big system = Zero Waste.

Silo is a restaurant that doesnt have a bin: from that simple limitation grows a big tree. At the very tip of the tree is the product. Instead of focusing on just the product, were looking at the whole tree, beginning with the roots and following it all the way to the bright shiny leaves.

Whats crucial for Silo is that the product represents the process, because the process represents the nature that feeds it. If you compose a bad system you yield bad food; however, a good system yields good food. Knowing the system from the point of nature presents a greater level of control, tethering ingredients straight from their habitat.

We will present a different approach to recipes; were not doing recipes at all. Rather, a whole view of how the food feeds from the system. Its important because its a real life example of sustainability one that works economically, is delicious and creates Zero Waste. Its backed up with formulas that encourage intuition. Less robot cooking and more wizard skills.

OH, AND KEEP AN OPEN MIND, YOULL NEED IT.

THERE COMES A POINT WHERE WE NEED TO STOP JUST PULLING PEOPLE OUT OF THE RIVER. WE NEED TO GO UPSTREAM AND FIND OUT WHY THEYRE FALLING IN.
DESMOND TUTU

OVER A DECADE AGO, BEFORE SILO WAS BORN, I DROPPED OUT OF SCHOOL. I DIDNT LIKE SCHOOL: IM DYSLEXIC, DYSCALCULIC, DYS-EVERYTHING.

I dont take well to being told what to do. As soon as somebody tells me what to do, I want to do the opposite. I fell out of school at 16 and fell into a kitchen; it was the only place that would have me. Its the same story for a lot of chefs.

Kitchens are pretty unruly places, full of anarchy and chaos. The life of a chef is similar to the life of a pirate there are rules and discipline, but there is also the freedom to express yourself and be an individual. I fell in love with the kitchens. I was used to being in classrooms, being told what to do and being miserable. Kitchens felt free. I liked the loud music and wild language. You still had to be on time and achieve whatevers needed of you that day, but not at the expense of your soul. I felt like Id woken up, Id found my tribe. I didnt know it then, but I had a chip on my shoulder; an insatiable need to work at the best restaurants, make my CV shine, wear those big names like medals the chip demanded it.

I found guidance in the almighty guide and embarked on a gruelling stint through the Michelin-starred citadels of the North. After a few years, my youthful resolve began succumbing to the anarchy, a friend convinced me to leave the hallowed shrines of the North and come work at Fergus Hendersons St John Bread and Wine in London. The St John restaurants were an anomaly in the landscape of gastronomy, not such an obvious beauty, hard to decipher for the uninitiated. I was a 20-year-old lad who thought St John was a joke. Where were the neat dots? The foam? The sous vide? I must have been insufferable. However, working there very quickly changed my perspective.

The chefs at St John were much older, less aggressive and altogether out of tune with everything I knew; only the chef whites were recognizable. James, the head chef, was the first significant Silo influencer. While working in this temple galvanized with identity, he was a force of his own. His values were sage and confident, not always in tune with his surroundings. He was a very nice chap, wed talk for hours about food around the world, his thoughts were sophisticated and intelligent, I ate up every word. However, there was James the diplomat and James the bloodthirsty knight. If I disobeyed his formula, intentionally or not, there were fierce consequences; rage would ensue, which would be impossible for me to shrug off.