BRENSO

BRENSO was founded by Lorenzo Dal Bo in Zurich as a temporary restaurant and zero-waste food project.

It was conceived not simply as a place to eat, but as a space for research, experimentation and exchange. Its purpose was to explore what sustainability could mean when applied to the entire gastronomic experience: from sourcing and kitchen organisation to hospitality, labour and the relationships created around the table.

BRENSO began with the understanding that sustainability cannot be reduced to a collection of environmentally friendly gestures. To act responsibly within the food system requires a circular mindset capable of looking beyond the final plate.

The project examined what entered the restaurant, what left it and what usually disappeared from view. Ingredients, packaging, energy, knowledge, time and labour were considered interconnected resources.

Looking inside the bin became a starting point for investigation. Not because everything discarded could or should be transformed, but because waste revealed where the system had failed to recognise value.

In the kitchen, BRENSO worked through root-to-leaf and nose-to-tail practices, fermentation, pickling, preservation and the intelligent transformation of surplus. These techniques were not used as aesthetic trends. They were part of a broader attempt to recover knowledge that had been common before industrial production separated consumers from seasons, producers and the material consequences of food.

A carrot could appear fresh, fermented, pickled, dried or transformed into a seasoning. Beetroot could become kombucha, powder, butter or a grilled element. The cacao fruit could be approached beyond the conventional use of chocolate, recognising the sweetness of its mucilage and the functional properties naturally present within the ingredient.

Through these transformations, BRENSO demonstrated that circularity can also produce culinary complexity. Responsibility did not require sacrificing pleasure, precision or beauty. On the contrary, limitations often became the source of new flavours and ideas.

Sourcing was equally central. The project prioritised ingredients produced close to the place in which the restaurant operated and encouraged direct attention to the people behind them.

Local food was not treated as a marketing label but as a relationship with a specific landscape. The question was not simply “Where does this come from?” but also “How was it produced, and under what conditions?”

For ingredients that could not be sourced locally, BRENSO considered fair agriculture and trade essential. This allowed the restaurant to remain open to other cultures without ignoring the environmental and social implications of global availability.

The project’s identity was also deeply connected to hospitality. Lorenzo’s Mediterranean roots informed a way of welcoming guests that felt generous, informal and personal. Knowledge was shared without creating distance, and sustainability was experienced through taste and conviviality rather than presented as a moral lesson.

The BRENSO Manifesto brought these values together: passion for the craft, curiosity, cooperation, respect for the surrounding food ecosystem, the meeting of tradition and science, responsibility towards future generations and the belief that a more egalitarian community can support a more environmentally responsible planet.

Its final note introduced an important element of irony: sometimes, the kitchen is hell.

This lightness matters. BRENSO did not claim perfection. It recognised that building a different food system is difficult, contradictory and constantly evolving. Its manifesto served as a map rather than a declaration of having reached a final destination.

BRENSO has already existed, but its temporary nature does not mean that it is over. The concept can live again in new cities and landscapes, responding each time to different ingredients, communities and ecosystems.

It can return as a temporary restaurant, a residency, a collaborative dinner series, a cultural programme or another form not yet imagined.

Like every living system, BRENSO listens, adapts and changes.