Listen up, BBQ buds – this is your chance to dig in and do good!
For the rest of 2025, we’re partnering with the amazing folks at the Danforth Plant Science Center for a limited-time, give-back dish that serves flavor and funds a food-secure future.
Introducing: The Botanical Belly
A slow-smoked, sorghum-glazed pork belly served over creamy whipped cassava mash. With flavors inspired by the climate-resilient crops—sorghum + cassava—grown and researched by scientists at the Danforth. Their work helps farmers feed more people and adapt to climate change, directly improving food security around the world (which we think is super rad!).
The partnership stems from longtime support from Sugarfire owners Charlie and Carolyn Downs, who have championed sponsorship and collaboration with the Danforth Center. Creativity struck during a recent facility tour when Chef Mike Johnson and Executive Corporate Chef Kat Wallace were inspired to create a menu item based on climate-resilient crops being researched and improved on-site.
The giveback dish highlights sorghum and cassava, two plants with a deep connection to sustainability and food security. Sorghum is known for its drought tolerance and potential as a renewable bioenergy source. Cassava thrives in challenging environments with minimal inputs and is eaten daily by more than half a billion people in Africa. Both crops are the focus of major research projects at the Danforth Center designed to help feed the world while sustaining the planet. The crops also pair seamlessly with Sugarfire’s barbecue flavors.
Swing By. Dig In. Do Good!
We’re extremely proud to team up with the Danforth Plant Science Center, just down the road from our OG Olivette location, and use some seriously tasty BBQ to help amplify and support the incredible plant science happening right in our own backyard.
The Botanical Belly is available for dine-in or carry-out, every Friday through December 31, 2025 at Sugarfire Olivette.
Make plans to visit – you’ll leave feeling extra full knowing a portion of the proceeds from every dish sold goes right back to the Danforth Plant Science Center.