[amdavadis4ever] FROM THE FARM TO YOUR FORK

 

FROM THE FARM TO YOUR FORK Deepali Singh       Local produce at restaurants no longer mean only farm fresh veggies and fruits -they now also include local cheeses, honey, herbs and coffee While travelling to Punjab a couple of years ago, Romil Ratra, Director, Bellona Hospitality Ltd, stopped at a dhaba. "The lady who worked at the dhaba took us to the garden where she picked fresh radishes, washed and grated them and made mooli parathas for us. What a difference that made to the flavour!" recalls Ratra. The experience in faraway Punjab would go on to lay the groundwork for Craft Deli Bistro Bar at Phoenix Marketcity Kurla. Here, a local supplier from a farm on the outskirts of Pune delivers vegetables. The restaurant also maintains its own vertical garden -the tomato and microgreens you find in your salad are, more often than not, freshly plucked from there. But Ratra is not the only one to join the `farm to table' movement.Restaurants across the city haven choosen to do away with imported ingredients and instead focus on getting the best from local vendors and suppliers. FARM FRESH When Gauri Devidayal set up The Table with husband Jay Yousuf in early 2011, local vendors would supply them with vegetables and other ingredients. "We have a farm in Alibaug which is like a weekend home for us. We used to grow vegetables for our personal consumption there," she says. Once, in 2012, the farm had some extra produce of spinach and Devidayal carried the excess to the restaurant. "The kitchen staff was very excited and said this spinach is better than the one we get and that I should get them more," she recalls. With the help of Fresh Local, an urban farming expert organisation, Devidayal developed The Table Farm and today, the restaurant gets its share of radishes, beetroots, cauliflower, cabbage and spinach from the farm. Dishes such as The Table Farm Salad and The Table Farm Spinach use ingredients that come from the farm. One of the biggest positives of the practice is being able to exert quality control over the produce."Also, because of the proximity of the farm to the city, the produce gets harvested in the morning and is delivered to the restaurant within a few hours. So I can vouch for the quality and freshness of the product," she says. The two were so overwhelmed by their customers' response that they decided to con duct workshops at their farm where participants could get a first-hand experience of building permaculture beds and planting seeds. The workshops end with lunch, made from harvested crops. Michelin star chef Atul Kochhar, who recently opened NRI and Lima at Bandra Kurla Complex, too, strongly believes in using local, seasonal and sustainable produce with a low carbon footprint. "We work with a horticulturist who helps us grow our own produce and we will receive our first lot in the next six or seven months," says the chef. He currently oversees the development of five acres of land at Ganeshpuri in Maharashtra, which is primed to grow broccoli, courgettes, bell peppers, papaya and passion fruit among many other fruits and vegetables. "To grow your own produce is very gratifying. I intend to get my chefs to work on the farm at least once a month as well ­ that would give them an understanding of what they are cooking and the nature of the produce. We are taking the organic route, so it will be hugely satisfying to our patrons as well," he adds. BACKING THE EXPERTS If having your own farm is not a feasible option, city restaurateurs have figured out a way to work around it. Nico Goghavala, for instance, who recently opened his bistro Farmer Sons in Fort, believes that having a farm of his own would work against his purpose of associating with Indian farmers and producers. "We want to highlight what these guys are good at. I know this couple who left their job at Silicon Valley in the US. They now live just outside Pune and grow microgreens and other vegetables. It's their full-time profession. We want to back such people and bring an awareness to consumers that local is good," says the restaurateur. Most of the produce and ingredients served at the eatery are sourced from various parts of the country -coffee from Kodaikanal, a variety of cheeses from Auroville and Gujarat and breads made inhouse contribute to name a few."We use our own sundried tomatoes made from local tomatoes as opposed to buying canned sundried tomatoes, which has probably gone through a six-month process of travelling through customs and being stored in warehouses before reaching us. The idea is to extend this to all kinds of ingredients," he adds. "Who would have thought five years ago that we can have local pecorino cheese? It is amazing. We serve what these people produce and we are very proud of our association with them." URBAN FARMING Imagine ordering a plate of pasta at a restaurant and being asked to take a stroll in a little vegetable patch to pick your own tomatoes, zucchini and herbs before watching the chef rustle up your order using the freshly-plucked goods. If Ratra has his way, this will soon be a reality at Craft Deli Bistro Bar. "I'm keen on doing a day's menu, which features these home-grown ingredients and making it an experience for the consumer. But it's a work in progress," he adds. For the time being though, customers will have to be content with a stroll in their vertical garden where they grow microgreens such as mustard cress, pea shoots, wheat grass and more. Chef Paul Kinny proudly points at the plum tomatoes and cherry tomatoes growing on the side."It all started with growing microgreens in little cups inside the kitchen, and then we slowly took over this space too," he smiles. Adds Ratra, "One of the things that came to our minds was that we may be in the city, but since we're in a mall and malls generally have a lot of open spaces and landscaping, why not find a way to use these spaces to grow our own vegetables?" While the first batch of tomatoes growing on the terrace was eaten up by crows, the second batch is quietly turning a ripe red in the outdoor Craft garden. "We are also growing our own herbs such as basil, coriander and mint," he says.

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Posted by: Bhupendra Jesrani <jesranibd@yahoo.co.in>

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