CHEF’S BITES
MASTERCLASSES USING SUSTAINABLE INGREDIENTS As part of Epic - The Sustainable Living Expo, a selection of Dubai chefs will be presenting cooking classes using organic and locally-sourced ingredients. The line-up and timings of the masterclasses will be announced closer to the event, but here is the list of chefs you can expect to see cooking up a sustainable storm.
land and inputs will be needed to grow the same amount of food. The cost to our environment and resources grows all the time due to weak soils. If we farm organically, we can grow more and more out of the same land. The water retention alone in good bio-dynamic organic farming means you save 40 percent of the water. What changes to eating habits would be beneficial to the environment, and more sustainable? In order of importance: Eat organic, don’t waste food and avoid too much packing in takeaway foods. By choosing locally-produced food and organic products, how are people helping the environment? That really depends on where you are, how local food is grown and the carbon footprint of the imported food. For sure organic food is a more sustainable approach to growing, but organic alone is not enough. We look at the carbon footprint a lot too. Consider importing organic food by air from California; that is really far. Is that bad? if you grow locally with desalinated water and have surface irrigation, you have a huge carbon footprint too. It is hard for an individual to know which particular product has a lower environmental impact, especially in the UAE. I can say that our corporate social responsibility standards at Organic Foods and Café consider all aspects. When we get our produce from Egypt, we are in fact carbon neutral. The food is grown using farm-made compost and Nile water through underground irrigation. That is a lot better than surface irrigation from closer at hand with desalinated water. The issue is how do you know as a consumer? You need to try to select the firms that are most socially responsible. What PARTS of the Expo are you looking forward to? All of it, I have never been and want to see what is presented.
Argentinean chef Norberto Palacios, chef de cuisine of Asado, The Palace – The Old Town
Indonesian chef Daniel Edward, speciality sous chef, The Address Downtown Dubai
South Korean chef Jin-Chul (Jimmy) Kim, chef de cuisine, Armani/ Hashi, Armani Hotel Dubai
British chef Nicholas W Vass, executive sous chef, The Address Dubai Marina
Italian chef Francesco Bonato, sous chef, Armani/Ristorante, Armani Hotel Dubai
June 2011 BBC Good Food Middle East 53