The influence of the urban orchard on catering

This post is dedicated to the impact of urban orcharding in restaurants, a practice that is becoming more and more widespread and that many have been doing for years:

We will talk about the Michelin Green Star, about well-known chefs whose vegetable garden marks many of the dishes you will find on their menus, as well as a list of the best restaurants that boast a vegetable garden on social networks.

I'm sure you've noticed in the restaurants closest to you, or some of the restaurants you follow on Instagram, the tendency to offer products from their own orchards in their restaurants.

Many of these restaurants have their own vegetable garden or rental organic community garden where they grow the produce that you will later enjoy in their restaurants.

What are the extra benefits for a restaurant to have its own vegetable garden?

• Have different varieties of many vegetables that add richness to your dishes, e.g. tomatoes, aubergines.
• Differentiate from other restaurants in order not to have the same suppliers and to be able to offer different flavours.
• Improve your larder with less perishable products from the garden with preserves and even edible flowers.
• Economic savings as restaurants need a large amount of vegetables per day and gardens tend to overproduce.

The Green Star of the Michelin Guide

In fact, just two years ago, the prestigious Michelin Guide cooking club launched a new distinction: The Michelin Green Star, for those restaurants most committed to offering a product and service that is more respectful of our environment.

And many of these restaurants have their own vegetable orchard!

Among the practices related to the market garden and which are valued in order to obtain the label are the following:

• Produce your own vegetables.
• Use organic waste to make compost or feed livestock.
• Store rainwater.
• Minimise the use of water and other supplies.

And among other qualities:

• Be creative and find ways to use every part of the food and not discard the less valued parts.
• Generate your own energy through solar panels or wind generators.
• Store rainwater.
• Properly insulate the room to reduce the need for air conditioning.
• Use geothermal energy to heat interiors.

Cristina Oria: a chef with the vegetable garden at the heart of her dishes

One of the chefs and businesswoman to highlight, we love the affection with which she talks about her garden is Cristina Oria, a young chef who gives us many days images or stories of her beautiful family garden in Madrid.

These vegetables are then sent to their restaurants in Madrid or Bilbao, where they can offer a natural, seasonal product with a fresh and natural personality.

We also find one of the pioneers in these, the Restaurant of the Hotel Wellington in Madrid, which has one of the most important urban orchards on its terrace and is supplied by them.

Restaurants that boast a vegetable garden and a Star

Here is a small selection of 4 restaurants that put their vegetable garden at the heart of their dishes.

• The restaurant Culler de Pau in O Grove, Galicia, with more than 15,000 followers on IG you can see how they share images of their beautiful vegetable garden with greenhouse and how they work with vegetables and flowers with creativity.
• Les Cols in Olot, run by Fina and Martina, two great chefs who prepare dishes with produce from their garden that look like works of art.
• Venta Moncalvillo in Daroca, boast about their vegetable garden on their IG with the hashtag #huertapropia.
• And in Valencia we have Ricard Camarena with the distinction "The best vegetable restaurant in the world", where we take one of his phrases interpreted from an image of his vegetable garden on IG: "There was a time when the vegetable garden was at our service, now we wait for what it gives us".

There are more and we will talk about them in other posts about how the vegetable garden has a positive influence on gastronomy.

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