3 - Endorsed
i
Seasonality is the engine of the kitchen. The menu is rewritten almost every day around what the market and the restaurant's growers deliver, and guide coverage and the restaurant's own account describe a kitchen organised around the season rather than a fixed card.
Ugo Federico and Francesco Cury were among the first chefs in Belgium to join the Slow Food Chefs' Alliance, and Slow Food describes Racines as a meeting point for local producers, cooks and city residents.
The kitchen serves no meat, a decision the founders describe as an ecological one. Vegetables run through the menu alongside organic and local vegetables. Racines is listed in the We're Smart Green Guide, the reference guide for vegetable-led cooking.
The impact dimensions
Low waste & circular practices✓
Sustainable animal products✓
Local sourcing is positioned as a genuine kitchen value, corroborated by sources outside the restaurant, with a group of small growers within a few kilometres, some growing specific crops for Racines.
Local sourcing is positioned as a genuine kitchen value and is corroborated by sources outside the restaurant. Slow Food describes Racines working closely with a group of small scale producers located a few kilometres away, with some growing specific crops for the restaurant, and states that ingredients once imported from Italy are now cultivated in Belgium. Independent coverage adds that the wheat flour for the pasta is Belgian and that ingredients are chosen local where possible.
No individual farm, grower or supplier is named anywhere, however, so the level 3 requirement of at least one named, traceable local supplier is not met. Producer proximity is a real complementary strength here, strong on directness but weak on named traceability.
The menu is rewritten almost every day around what the market and the restaurant's growers deliver, consistently documented and corroborated across independent outlets and the restaurant's own account.
Seasonality is the strongest evidenced dimension. The restaurant's own site states the menu changes daily or almost daily and describes a seasonal menu, corroborated by several independent outlets: Gault&Millau describes dynamic and seasonal Italian cuisine, Le Fooding cites seasonal and local supplies, and an independent review describes the chef setting the day's menu on what the market offers.
A chef interview describes the morning fish supplier call determining that evening's dishes and a no fridge, no freezer working method. The practice is clearly documented and consistently reported across channels.
In-house preparation of pasta, bread, mozzarella and ricotta demonstrates an approach to minimising processing, but no current waste reduction scheme, composting partnership or energy measure is documented.
A chef interview describes a kitchen run without a fridge or freezer, with nothing industrial and everything made on the premises. The in-house preparation of pasta, bread and cheeses is a genuine supporting signal.
No composting scheme, food waste partner, packaging policy or energy measure is named in any recent channel. The dimension is held at level 2 pending current evidence.
Fish and seafood are sourced from named regions (Brittany and Saint-Jean-de-Luz) from small-boat fishing, but no named supplier or third-party certification is documented.
Fish and seafood are served, so the dimension applies. A chef interview states that all fish comes from Brittany and Saint-Jean-de-Luz, from small boats, with nothing industrial, and independent coverage describes fish from sustainable sources, citing albacore tuna from sustainable fishing.
Named regions of origin and a stated fishing method, without a named supplier and without MSC, ASC or an equivalent certification, place this at level 2. The most specific fish sourcing evidence is from 2017 and is not corroborated recently.
Early members of the Slow Food Chefs' Alliance, the founders have positioned Racines as a meeting point for producers, cooks and Brussels residents, with sourcing from small-scale growers supporting the social supplier sub-area.
There is one named and verifiable social commitment, documented by a third party. Slow Food reports that Ugo Federico and Francesco Cury were among the first chefs in Belgium to sign up to the Slow Food Chefs' Alliance, and describes Racines as a meeting point for local producers, cooks and citizens where food serves education and connection.
Sourcing from a group of named-in-aggregate small scale producers also supports the social supplier sub-area.
No meat is served, a deliberate ecological choice that structurally raises the plant share of a pasta-led Italian menu; fish is the primary animal protein.
The kitchen has removed the largest animal category entirely: independent coverage reports that no meat is served and that this is a deliberate ecological choice, which structurally raises the plant share of a pasta-led Italian menu and makes plant-forward intent explicit.
Vegetables appear as the subject of dishes in guide coverage, including San Marzano tomato flan and tagliolini with cavolo nero. Animal protein, in the form of fish, remains prominent, which places the dimension at level 3.
Sourcing signals
Specific categories are named: fresh pasta, bread, mozzarella and ricotta made on the premises. The Michelin listing independently describes house-made tagliolini.
