Eating out: As local as it can get

The culinary movement to source locally grown ingredients by eateries is here to stay, as the coronavirus pandemic shifts focus to sustainability and the environment.

Have you ever wondered, how many miles did the ingredients in your food travel, before landing on your plate? How sustainable is this in a pandemic inflicted world? As the restaurant industry gets back to business with Covid-19 restrictions being removed, it’s embracing sustainable practises, to address environmental concerns. The use of local and seasonal ingredients that shows consciousness towards the environment has become a big selling point with restaurants. This means, that most of the ingredients used in the dishes are sourced locally and are grown around areas where you live and reach you at the shortest possible time.

Restaurants have shifted focus to sustainable sourcing of ingredients (Shutterstock)

Altogether Experimental, a scratch kitchen, craft coffee bar and patisserie in Delhi, serves red rice bowls, millet Buddha bowl, salads, tartines, tacos and burgers — all of which they claim to be 100% local, small batch and in-house. Their menu changes four times in year, to ensure that only seasonal produce is used.

“We only use local and seasonal produce. We have tied up with local farms like Krishi Cress, so everything is fresh. Nothing comes to us frozen. And not just the food, but no plastic is around the restaurant. We only use glass bottles and bagasse containers for takeaway and water cans instead of plastic bottles,” said Anukriti Anand, chef and owner.

Pulled Jackfruit Taco at Altogether Experimental

Local sourcing of ingredients isn’t a new phenomenon. René Redzepi’s three Michelin Stars restaurant, Noma, in Copenhagen is known for using only hyperlocal ingredients, which have been foraged. The menu changes every season and often features ingredients such as wild grass, bee larvae, magnolia flowers and more, sourced locally.

Quinoa, which is a native of Latin America, is sourced from Haryana and Punjab at Andaz Delhi and Himalayan trout has taken over the need of imported fish. Akshay Bhardwaj, head chef at Andaz Delhi, said, “Sourcing ingredients locally not only helps in reducing our carbon footprint but also supports local farmers and small-scale units in the market. Locally sourced ingredients are dominantly helping chefs to overcome the bias on imported ingredients.”

UnCafe a farm to table concept restaurant in Delhi, largely sources from local businesses and farms. Sanskriti Gupta, its co-founder, stressed on the need for the customer to be able to track where their food comes from, as she shared, “We started with a thought that our audience should be able to track where their food comes from, to promote mindful eating. Farm to table not just helps with that but also helps support local farmers and small businesses. It keeps our menu interesting, as we get to pick ingredients from a different variety every season. Since the commute is less, the ingredients stay fresh, and this mode also contributes to environmental benefits like less pollution and less usage of fuel. When you eat and buy from a shorter radius, your body connects well with the food. We get to support ethically responsible practices while procuring from local farms and encouraging the farmers for the same.”

Berry Good Life Smoothie at UnCafe

At Altogether Experimental’s scratch kitchen, syrups and flavours are produced in house to ensure quality and reduction of plastic waste. “We don’t use any artificial flavours for anything. This way, we get to decide what goes in our drinks and how the outcome will be like. Also, this drastically reduces the plastic packaging that all other artificial syrups come in,” said Anand.

Freshness, nutrition value, support to local businesses and mindfulness are some pros of sourcing locally grown ingredients. “Our menu is vastly vegetarian with options of vegan and cage-free eggs. Our produce is hydroponically grown and we largely source from local businesses and farms as it means being more connected to the food and eating mindfully. Locally produced ingredients guarantee freshness and have more natural flavour to them. Rather than needing to preserve, freeze or otherwise extend the useful life of these ingredients, your dish will taste fresh because it truly is fresh. The fact that it isn’t shipped or stored makes it more nutritious,” said Gupta.

The author tweets @Namyasinha