The young Alice Waters didn’t know she would be a path breaker when she opened her iconic restaurant Chez Panisse in Berkeley in early 70s, inadvertently creating a new style of cooking California Cuisine — laden with the use of fresh, local ingredients, often picked up daily at farmers markets. Menus are changed to accommodate the availability of seasonal ingredients.
At the home turf, chefs have been making incessant efforts towards this concept. Chef Sunil Kumar and his team at JW Marriott Mussoorie Walnut Grove Resort & Spa had arranged an impeccable lunch table at the in-house farm. ‘Pluck and cook act’ was magical that afternoon.
Chef Vikramjit Roy, Group Corporate Chef of White Hat Hospitality, known for outlets Whisky Samba, The Wine Company, The Wine Rack, Antares says, “The concept of farm to table or chefs knowing the soil and the farmers knowing what is cooked out of their product, is the need of the hour. “We at Whisky Samba, offer salads, pointed gourd dishes, range of dimsums, where I personally make sure they fall in the farm to fork genre. Most of our vegetables come from farms within a 5-kilometre radius.”
Balpreet Singh Chadha, Director of Culinary Operations at AnnaMaya, Andaz Delhi, points out Chicken Biryani Millets as his favourite. Choose any dish from his repertoire and you will be reminded of the restaurant’s motto:Eat mindful. Shop artisanal. Raise awareness.
Integrating organic produce in the menu, “Pluck from in-house Chef’s Garden and cook, what can be more satisfying for us,” says Chef Shyam Dhar Rai, culinary designer at Pullman New Delhi Aerocity.
The author writes on food and travel among other things.