A trailblazing chef combining a passion for food with a commitment to reversing climate change through it, Anthony Myint ’99 is celebrated for his work toward scaling regenerative agriculture and mobilizing the restaurant industry around climate solutions.
An economics and Asian studies double major at Carleton, Myint launched his career by co-founding Mission Street Food, which was named the “most influential restaurant of the past decade” by the San Francisco Chronicle. He followed that by opening The Perennial, named the “most sustainable restaurant in the country” by Bon Appétit magazine. In 2014, he founded the nonprofit organization Zero Foodprint to support regenerative agriculture as a solution to the climate crisis.
By becoming members, restaurants and food businesses offer customers a voluntary surcharge that Zero Foodprint aggregates and grants to farmers to implement new healthy soil practices. To date, Zero Foodprint has awarded more than $2 million to over 100 farm projects, which is expected to remove an estimated 97,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent greenhouse gases. In recognition of his efforts, Myint was awarded the 2019 Basque Culinary World Prize and the 2020 James Beard Foundation Humanitarian of the Year Award. In 2023, he was invited to speak at The New York Times’ Climate Forward event, which brought together world leaders, activists, and business innovators.
Since its founding, Zero Foodprint has become a model for making agriculture a solution to the climate crisis and rethinking how consumers can advance changes to farming practices to restore soil and absorb carbon. Myint has worked with state and local partners, farmers, and stakeholders across the food industry and has enlisted restaurants from Maine to California to join the Zero Foodprint movement.
Myint is currently on the board of trustees for the James Beard Foundation and is the executive director of Zero Foodprint. He and his wife, Kara, live in Portland, Oregon.