Austrian restaurant wins UK Slow Food Award

Heinz Reitbauer, master chef at the Viennese restaurant “Steirereck”, has won a British slow food award.

Heinz Reitbauer, 41, founder, manager and chef at the Viennese restaurant “Steirereck” is a frequent contestant at the “Top 50 Restaurants Worldwide” which took place on the 30th of April in the London Guildhall.  Reitbauer is committed to sustainable, regional cuisine, and was listed on 22nd place amongst the world’s top 50 restaurants last year. This year, he made a great leap to 11th place.

He also won the “Slow Food UK Award”, an award given out for the first time to chefs and restaurants that support sustainable, qualitative and locally produced products.

Catherine Gazzoli, CEO at Slow Food UK, explains her reasons for awarding Reitbauer with the prestigious prize like this: “Heinz Reitbauer lives a committed and convincing life, offering no compromises when it comes to small-scale, qualitative local farming and co-operates with Slow Food in Austria.”

Reitbauer says: “It is a great award for what Steirereck has represented for many years. It is an award for the philosophy that Slow Food stands for, and will not compromise.”
Steirereck has been looking for the very best locally produced foods in Austria for a long time, and so it has supported many small producers over the years. Reitbauer invites anyone to visit his restaurant to rediscover food that Slow Food counts as being part of the “Ark of Taste.”

Barbara Van Melle, leader of Slow Food Vienna, says: “Steirereck is a trendsetter for Austrian cuisine. Through his co-operation with Slow Food, Heinz Reitbauer supports the campaign to make people aware of our valuable Ark products.”

The Ark products are a line of foods closely connected to local production and the craft of cooking, and has been used as a trademark for five years.

Slow Food has 100,000 members in 150 countries and was created to support cooking traditions all over the world.