Top Five Durham Finalists Announced for Nature’s Plate Award

As The South's Tastiest Town, food is pretty important in Durham.  So is the environment, and being socially conscious, and just being a friend to one another and our surroundings.  The Nature Conservancy recognizes this about Durham, too, and has announced five Durham finalists for the Nature’s Plate Award Contest.

In September, people nominated their favorite green restaurants. The five restaurants with the most nominations are now finalists and voting to determine the winner will run from October 1 until October 15. Durham finalists are:

• Bull City Burger and Brewery
• Fairview Dining Room
• Piedmont
• Toast
• Watts Grocery

Votes can be case here before October 15. Nature’s Plate is a people’s choice contest for top green restaurant. This year 18 Nature Conservancy chapters across the country are participating in Nature’s Plate.

Learn about all the great restaurants in Durham online.

Nominate a Durham Restaurant for a Nature’s Plate award

As the Tastiest Town in the South, Durham has some heavy hitting players that should be nominated in a current contest being run by The Nature Conservancy (TNC).  Known as a major food destination, Durham foodies are being asked to nominate their favorite green restaurants for Nature’s Plate, a contest to name the people’s choice for each area’s top green restaurant.  

Vegans, vegetarians and meat-eaters, enjoy their healthiest and tastiest foods from nature. Whether it's oysters growing out in the Pamlico Sound or tomatoes soaking up the sun at the farm down the road, healthy food demands a healthy planet. And our planet is nurtured when food production is sustainable.

That's why The Nature Conservancy is to working with food producers everywhere and bringing together traditionally unexpected partners in the name of healthy food and a healthy environment, finding solutions that are good for their businesses, for consumers and for nature.

TNC's work is innovative and pragmatic. In the Albemarle and Pamlico sounds they are helping to build oyster reef, and they are working with landowners across the state to create more than 225,000 acres of state game lands – providing North Carolinians with the opportunity to serve up the ultimate local food.

Readers can make a difference by nominating their favorite green restaurant in Durham for a Nature's Plate award.  Wondering which restaurants to vote for? Consider eateries that are using sustainable seafood, free-range and grass-fed meat, organic produce, locally sourced food, and tap water (rather than bottled water).

While the contest is focused on restaurants, it’s only the start of a conversation about food, conservation and The Nature Conservancy’s work with farmers, fishermen and ranchers.  To participate, GO ONLINE AND NOMINATE a favorite green restaurant in Durham. There is also information about what makes a restaurant green.

Nominations will be open until September 16, semifinal voting will begin October 1, and the winner(s) will be announced October 17.

Learn more about all of Durham's great restaurants online.