LOCA Manifesto
FOR A sustainable
FUTURE
The LOCA Manifesto is our vision for the future of sustainable gastronomy. It reflects how, across global goals and national borders, we can create positive change in the culinary world we live and breathe through flavor and the joy of food.
For too long, the global food industry has contributed to a wide range of human-made problems. The time has come for gastronomy to become a genuine part of the solution to the world’s biggest challenges.
No one can do everything, but everyone can do something. We hope that, with taste and joy, you will join us in taking the next step together.
We are LOCA – and we know that food can change the world
We are restaurants, canteens, people, flavors, and attitudes. We are community and professionalism. We are vegetables with bite and knowledge with an edge. We believe in the good meal as a gathering point – and as a starting point for something bigger.
We work with gastronomic sustainability. Not as a goal in itself, but as a necessity in the
world we are part of. That’s why we set concrete goals for food, people, organization, partnerships, and responsibility in the world.
We know we can’t do everything – but we will do what we can, as best we can. And we will constantly work to strenghten and improve our own goals.
The LOCA Manifesto is the cornerstone of this vision – and of our commitment to you, our colleagues, and the world.
The LOCA Manifesto is developed in collaboration with the Basque Culinary Center as part of the Gastronomy Shapers project in 2021.The Basque Culinary Center is a pioneering academic institution founded by prominent Basque chefs in collaboration with Mondragon University. Its purpose is to contribute to education, research, innovation, and the promotion of gastronomy and health.
Its international advisory committee includes some of the industry’s most prominent figures, such as Ferran Adrià, Michel Bras, Heston Blumenthal, Dan Barber, and René Redzepi.
On behalf of LOCA and the entire team behind it,
Christian, Michael, Dorte, and Merete
Updated October 2025, Copenhagen
See how we turn the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals into concrete actions Read more about the 17 loca goals.
The artist Lars Nørgaard has created 17 illustrations that tell the story of our sustainability journey.
In LOCA’s sustainability report, you can see how we turn words into action—measured, weighed, and documented.
