Green Award 2009

Few chefs have had more to do with crafting Vancouver’s reputation as an international food city than Robert Clark, champion of local, sustainable seafood and this year’s Green Award recipient. Clark, in his mid 40s, was cofounder of The Chefs Table Society of BC and the driving force behind both the creation of its annual Spot Prawn Festival and of the Vancouver Aquarium’s Ocean Wise program. Through these outlets he works tirelessly to make diners and chefs more aware of the impact they have on the world’s oceans through the seafood choices they make every day. As executive chef of C Restaurant, Raincity Grill, and Nu (and a past Vancouver magazine Chef of the Year), he demonstrates that excellence and conscientiousness in cooking aren’t mutually exclusive. Over the last year he further cemented his unofficial position as the ambassador of our food and restaurant scene. He secured for B.C. the 2010 Canadian Chefs Congress, was recognized as Newsmaker of the Year by the Canadian Association of Food Services Professionals, and will represent the province later this month at the National Arts Centre’s BC Scene festival in Ottawa. For all his professional accomplishments, he’s a humble, straightforward, burly fellow who picks his words with careful economy, an unpretentious sort just as at home with fishermen and farmers as he is with diners and dignitaries. Together with his charming (and equally visionary) employer, restaurateur Harry Kambolis—a leader in encouraging and adopting eco-friendly practices in his rooms—Clark has played a dominant role in making our restaurant trade a model for other cities to follow.