For Peter Pollay, executive chef and owner of Posana Cafe, passion is more than a feeling — it’s a way of life. In fact, it is the very thing that drives Peter, in his personal life and in the Asheville community. That passion follows Peter wherever he goes. He can now look at a successful business that supports the local economy and respects the environment as one of the fruits of his passionate way of being. Here’s the key: Peter doesn’t just talk the talk when it comes to what he calls, “doing the right thing.” He walks the walk.

A Passion for Local Food

Peter’s passion starts with what he knows best: Good food. Over the years, his love and understanding for food and how it is produced has developed along with his culinary skills. His first experience working with Wolfgang Puck came when he was still in school at the Culinary Institute of America (CIA); his externship took him to work at Puck’s Granita, a celebrity favorite in Malibu. One of the vital aspects at Granita was fresh local food that they sourced from local farmers around Los Angeles. “And Wolfgang kind of gets anything on the planet, pretty much,” Peter says.

Maybe it has been predestined for him all along. Even for a boy that “grew up on concrete, lived on concrete, did everything on concrete” in New Jersey, food – and where it comes from – was an early interest for Peter. In eighth grade, Peter took an aptitude test that offered an interesting suggestion.

“Farmer,” Peter says, with a characteristic smirk that belies his dry, good-natured sense of humor. He’s come a long way since the days at Granita. Nowadays, the stars he serves are the local foods that grace his menus. He sources a huge amount of food for his restaurant exclusively from local food producers. He works directly with at least 20 farms where he gets greens, seasonal produce, eggs, cheeses, honey, and meats. Predestined or not, Peter’s dedication to local food has gone deeper than just buying from local farmers.

“We’ve actually thought about going into farming ourselves to grow our own produce,” Peter says. “Yes, I’m not a farmer, but we have such great relationships with farmers, they’re asking what we want them to grow for us.” Peter loves being there when the farmers bring in the fresh food; it turns into foodie show-and-tell in the back of Posana’s dining room. A perfect head of lettuce brings forth a bevy of ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ usually reserved for precious gems. And from Peter’s point of view, they are.

“It’s taken 30+ years to become a farmer, and I’m almost there,” he says. “Who would have thought?”

A Passion for Sustainability

Whether he realized it at the time or not, Peter’s intensive culinary training helped cement many of the “green” practices he undertakes in the kitchen, in building his business, and in the world around him. It starts with waste—more accurately, it starts with no waste. Peter learned to respect the quality of food when he worked for the Four Seasons Hotel in Chicago. The five-star-rated establishment gave Peter a new perspective on the food they used in the kitchen. There was no extra, so great care was taken with the ingredients. And in that high-end, high-paced, high-stress environment in the middle of downtown Chicago, Peter found that the food production was just as important as the food preparation.

The waste practices at Posana are thorough. They use as much of every vegetable, fruit, meat, and cheese as possible. They have a strict pre- and post-consumer compost rule. Ingredients are respected and treasured. This attention is turned toward more than the food, too. All carry-out containers, straws, and cups are made from recycled materials and are either recyclable or compostable. Oils are recycled by Blue Ridge Biofuels, and other recyclable products are handled by local reduction specialist Danny’s Dumpster. Bathroom lights are on sensors, and all the other lights use dimmers to reduce electrical waste.

But Peter doesn’t stop there. Actually, he didn’t start there either. When he first decided to open Posana, he knew he wanted to do the renovation in a sustainably responsible way. “It’s just the right thing to do,” Peter says. He focused on doing everything from an environmentally friendly and sustainable approach. The woodwork and cabinetry is made from sustainably managed farms, milled locally in Marion, uses non-formaldehyde glue, and the walnut panels are LEED compliant. Kitchen doors are made of a sustainable resin called 3form; the back bar counter is made of Paperstone, a paper and cashew resin; the material covering the booth seats and the menus is a PVC-free vinyl; the carpet is recycled, and is almost infinitely recyclable; the paint is low VOC; the list goes on and on.

Peter’s greening efforts are being noted and utilized, especially in the local restaurant industry. He has already enjoyed national recognition for having the first certified green restaurant in North Carolina from the Green Restaurants Association. He joined the Asheville Independent Restaurant Association’s (AIR) Green Team committee, where he helped secure a grant to make 17 more Asheville-area restaurants green-rated, thus potentially making Asheville the greenest restaurant city in North America—another feather in Asheville’s already impressive restaurant cap, especially after being named one of the top ten cities in the nation for food and wine by TripAdvisor.

For Peter, engaging his passion is a daily practice. He lives, breathes, and cooks what he believes, and luckily for Asheville, his passions line up perfectly with Asheville’s values.