For foodies and environmentalists, talk around the city over the last few months has sucked. Meaning, people can’t stop talking about straws, which restaurant has ditched the plastic, which is using paper, bamboo, or even reusable metal straw options.
One restaurant, modern vegan restaurant Broccoli Revolution, has done them all one better by introducing an edible straw made from the hollow stem of the water spinach plant.
They are buying up the vegetable — which is the centerpiece of a popular stir-fried Thai dish made with chili and soy sauce — each morning at a local fresh market, and their staff are hand washing and trimming the stems for use as straws. It’s a great idea, since the plant stem is hardy enough to last for hours while soaking in a drink, and can be eaten up by customers afterwards (or discarded without fear of creating long-term pollution).
Coconuts spoke to Broccoli Revolution co-owner Saks Rouypirom about the new straws. He said that the restaurant is currently going through about 100 of them per day and, though they cost much more than a traditional straw at about THB3 each (instead of well under THB1 each for plastic), the restaurant owners don’t mind the added expense since they are focused on promoting green initiatives.
Though Saks said that the straws can be used in just about any drink and don’t impart much added flavor, he thinks they do add something special to green juices and smoothies.
The restaurant introduced the straws in May, and now they are becoming popular enough that people stop into the Thong Lor or Central Embassy locations to get a drink and pose for photos with the green (literally) straws regularly.
FIND IT:
Broccoli Revolution
899 Sukhumvit Rd.
Monday-Friday 9am, 10pm, Weekends 7am-10pm
BTS Thong Lor
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