New Spaces 09 EN

26 Thinking the Future II “ We comb the countryside for berries and herbs that others would not bother with.” René Redzepi Chef Massimo Bottura of Osteria Francescana in Modena, Italy, was named the top chef in the world in February 2011 because of his ability to connect his native traditions with the future. He puts it unequivocally: “Carrots will be the new foie gras.” To get an even more “intensely seasonal” taste on diners’ plates, more and more restaurants are doing what Alija does: tending to their own vegetable gardens. In Canada’s Montreal, the lively high-low restaurant Joe Beef plants a large summer garden right in the backyard terrace. It overfl ows with plump heirloom tomatoes, squash fl owers and patches of obscure herbs. (When they run out, sous-chefs have also been known to snatch heads of ornamental cabbages and chard from Montreal’s city parks). Another chef and gardener, Michael Hoff mann of Berlin’s Margaux, is best known for his world-famous eight-course vegetarian menu, the “Voyage de Légumes”, which costs around €140 per person. Many of the ingredients are snipped from his own 2,000 square metre garden, which houses over 70 varieties of herbs and vegetables. Lola and Bill Zimmerman, owners of the Herbfarm Restaurant, located just a stone’s throw outside Seattle, Washington, have cultivated an organic farm as well as a lavish garden where exotic herbs such as sweet cicely and caraway thyme wait to be sprinkled into dishes. Specialities such as their bay leaf clafoutis and the stinging nettle and lovage soup mirror the excitement of the garden outside. “Having a garden today is a luxury,” explains Michel Pitrat, French biologist and author of Histoire de Légumes. Our modern world is no longer an agricultural society, he says, and what was once a way of life is now a privilege. The peasant foods of the 17th century — turnips, carrots and potatoes — are now luxury commodities cultivated in exclusive gardens. In addition to sourcing vegetables from domestic gardens, many chefs are now picking their own wild vegetables. At Noma in Copenhagen, known for its extraordinary application of vegetables, chefs hunt for ancient oddities found in the wild forests and brambled alleys of their cities. “We comb the countryside for berries and herbs that others would not bother with and work with foods that aren’t part of any system of formalised cultivation and consequently cannot be obtained through ordinary channels of distribution,” explains chef Redzepi. In September 2010, an elite group of vegetable-loving chefs from all over the world gathered for the third “Cook it raw”, an event initiated by the Copenhagen based “culinary consultant” Alessandro Porcelli. The group, which included René Redzepi, David Chang, Massimo Bottura and Daniel Patterson, travelled to the wilderness near Levi, Finland, north of the Arctic Circle in order to stalk authentic local foods by fi shing, hunting and gathering berries. In the process they discovered herbs, berries, roots, mosses, mushrooms and tender young fern shoots that taste like green hazelnuts. They also tasted fresh, sweetish birch sap, which has become a popular drink far beyond its origins in Russia and the countries of the far north. For some, including the creative minds at Coi in San Francisco, the passion for foraging and the resultant culinary experience transcend dining and move into the realm of performance art. One of Executive Chef Daniel Patterson’s whimsical concoctions is a dish titled “Abstraction of Garden in Early Winter”. He predicts that the trend will continue to grow. “Wild-growing roots, leaves, berries and fl owers of wild plants will be very important due to their great emotional power,” Patterson says. This romantic aesthetic can be traced in part to the Laguiole based chef Michel Bras, whose iconic 60 ingredient dish, the Gargouillou, is a magical, fresh elevation of simple vegetable composition. The Gargouillou, which has been riff ed on by chefs around the world, is a playful homage to the French countryside — some versions even include a “dirt” made from black brioche crumbs and powdered tomato. ¤ Further information Chino Farm, 6123 Calzada Del Bosque, Rancho Santa Fe, CA 92067, USA www.chezpanisse.com; www.wolfgangpuck.com www.noma.dk; www.georgesatthecove.com www.restauranteguggenheim.com; www.osteriafrancescana.it www.joebeef.ca; www.margaux-berlin.de; www.theherbfarm.com www.coirestaurant.com; www.michel-bras.com

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