Chefs Love SeaFibe™: An Interview with Ari Miller

There’s something powerful that happens when two worlds rooted in craft and responsibility come together. Our latest collaboration with the team behind Post Haste in Philadelphia is exactly that, a meeting point between food and fashion, united by a shared commitment to sustainability and thoughtful creation.

At Terratela, we have always believed that waste is simply untapped potential. In the kitchen, that philosophy comes to life, where every ingredient tells a story, and every byproduct invites reinvention. In this conversation, we collaborated with a chef who not only embraces that mindset, but lives it daily bringing a deeply personal and true approach to sustainability that feels less like a trend and more like a return to the roots of the craft.

From reimagining overlooked ingredients to challenging the very idea of “zero waste”, this Q&A explores what it really means to create with intention. It is about the beauty of using everything, the creativity sparked by constraints, and the role of community in shaping a more circular future.

Because whether it is on a plate or in what we wear, the future of craft belongs to those who see possibility where others see waste.

Check out the limited drop here

Your menus often highlight ingredients that might otherwise be overlooked, how do you approach turning “waste” or byproducts into something exciting on the plate?

Utilizing byproducts is a reactive process that drives creativity. It’s not simply the existence of byproduct that puts it on the plate; it’s listening and empathy, trial and error. At this point I’ve got some tricks for some byproducts. Of course there’s community and colleagues who provide invaluable resources and insight. But it’s also the focus it brings. If you have wilting salad greens, a surplus of egg whites, or perhaps less often considered - a whole crate of apples because you can’t get just one pound when you purchase from local farms - the byproduct demands your focus, which increases the frequency of your creativity, which leads to exciting discoveries and, ultimately, something exciting and delicious on the plate.

Looking ahead, what does a truly “zero-waste” or circular restaurant look like to you, and how close do you feel we are to that reality?

There are so many problems and issues with the notion of a zero-waste restaurant. There are health department rules that require certain plastics and toxic chemicals that we just simply need to operate legally. I don’t look at zero-waste as a goal any more so than I do perfection. It’s a point on the horizon valuable as a point towards which to orient yourself and navigate. My desire is for more restaurants to work with local farms and small businesses also interested in progress on this front. That strengthens community, builds networks and increases resources. This leads us to somewhere better, hopefully with less plastic and fewer toxins.

Post Haste feels very community-driven, from collaborative pop-ups to themed events, how important is that sense of gathering and shared experience in your work?

I view the main goal of my work as a chef is the creation of beauty and joy. And since restaurants are for-profit, communal spaces, I view beauty and joy as the product. But it’s not money that drives the work. First and foremost it’s sharing. And the best way to share is with your community. So inviting in friends and colleagues who create their own beauty and joy lets us amplify one another. The other important aspect to this is the responsibility I have towards my staff as their chef. Inviting in the community and sharing space with colleagues exposes them to diverse views, narratives, and perspectives. It makes them stronger in their careers, which in turn makes us stronger as a team. I have to imagine that’s about as important as it gets. And that makes the work that much more meaningful.

When you first heard about Terratela and the idea of turning food waste into clothing, what was your reaction?

I first heard about Terratela from my wife Kiki, who’s always telling me about the interesting and innovative things she encounters as a result of her work writing about sustainability. But Terratela was one of those, “What the…!?!” moments that compels you to realize the world is so much bigger and more magical than you knew prior to knowledge. I still don’t fully understand turning food waste into clothing, which makes me happy. It preserves the magic and I get to wear super comfy shirts which adds delight to my life.

Food and fashion don’t always intersect, but in your mind, how are they more connected than people realize?

I tend to look at food through the lens of industrialization, commodification, and the value of craft. Food in general has been cheapened via the erosion of its integral position within communities. It's subsidized and degraded, it poisons us, our land, our water in the name of access and availability. This allows for the fetishization of craft, which we see expressed as fetishization of chefs, the keepers of this eroded craft. I think fashion is similar, which has been stripped of its integrity to be fast and cheap. So the same kinship I feel towards my colleagues in food I feel towards the practitioners of craft and art in fashion. We fight against the same forces of evil to produce products that delight, promote beauty, clothe and nourish.


Photo Credits: K.C. Tinari