“Farm to table”, is defined in English as the philosophy of those restaurants that work with food that comes from their own garden or from nearby producers. The movement was born abroad longer than is thought: between the ’60s and ’70s, North Americans began to rebel against excess ultra-processed foodsand the response was the birth of proposals with this sustainable slogan.
In Argentina the journey is much more recent, but no less committed. Today there are many who struggle to add natural, organic and fresh ingredientsand in several cases they produce them themselves in their space.
La Pebeta
Located in Campana, La Pebeta is probably the restaurant that best embodies this movement. In fact, it was not born as such but as an organic and family orchard and farm. “From the surplus we had, after having planted about 1,500 trees, of which 300 were fruit trees, we began to give production to friends and family,” he says. Esteban Nofal, creator. That’s where the first attempt was born, which was about selling vegetables. As they expanded and bought more hectares, they decided to create a restaurant.
They started timidly with some simple fires and ovens and a menu of the day. Today they are a full-fledged restaurant, although it is only one of the legs of the project: it also they have a warehouse and provide pruning courses, garden and other contents. Regarding the organization of the sowing and the availability on the menu, they stick to the seasons and practically do not buy material from outside, except in cases where they cannot reproduce it in this climate or do not have enough quantity, as happens with the garlic or onion. Proud of his project, Nofal says that they are always looking for ways to improve quality, and that is why he is attentive to incorporating new biodynamic practices. “We have to produce soil, not what goes up,” he points out, conscious of not depleting resources or nutrients.
What to eat these days in La Pebeta? The heirloom tomato is one of the stars of this summer, and you can enjoy it in carpaccio, gazpacho and in some preserves. “Our goal is to make maximum use of the product to give it the value it deserves. As we usually say, we use it ‘nose to tail,’” he details. Lionel Ginochef.
porco
Towards Tiger, porco It is another family project in which the sustainability type the steps. Since 2018, they have offered a menu with seasonal products that rotates every three months and is divided into flora and fauna. For this, they source their supplies largely from their seven large garden beds in which the chef and whoever takes care of the garden are closely aligned with the planting and harvesting of each season. “We have a lot of vegetables, leaves and aromatics, as well as fruits,” he describes Talara Amendolisa, owner and founder. They also have blackberry, loquat and pecan trees.
These days, the menu is overflowing with tomatoes, zucchini, chard, arugula, zucchini, beets, oranges, figs, lemons and varieties of mint. “We get a large percentage of fruit and vegetables from our garden and we also have more production in a nearby field. We buy the remaining percentage from a company that takes great care of the product,” says Amendolisa.
Smaller scale, big impact
Even without so much space in their own premises, there are several references that manage to generate their own productions. This is what happens in Chui, in Villa Crespo, where the proposal is a plant based menuand where self-made mushrooms They are beautifully displayed in a display case. They can also boast of making their own ferments and preserves, and thus feed dishes such as the gyrgolas milanesa with mashed potatoes with toasted butter and pickled red onion.
Similar path follows To the, the chef’s darling Alejandro Feraud, where respect for the product is the first law. That is why he not only uses seasonal vegetables from small and medium-sized organic producers, but also wild meats from local lodges and aromatics from his garden. In addition, they have their own citrus fruits, the lamb comes from a field in Feraud and they are supported by a dairy that produces ricotta, ice cream and yogurt.
Benedetta make your own preserves from seasonal products which he then uses out of season. For example, this summer the Milanese is accompanied by pickles. Fennels, pickles, carrots, eggplants, garlic, cauliflowers, kumquats and beets are each preserved in a different marinade. In addition, they make seasonal ice creams, such as strawberry and hibiscus.
And recently inaugurated, Pasto House is a grill that offers grass-fed meats and seasonal vegetables. The first comes from a refrigerator trusted by the chef and creator, Nacho Bravoand the second of the farm Three Rootsa small certified organic producer from Rawson (in Buenos Aires).
Vigil House
It is not possible to close this list without mentioning one of the greats references and diffusers of the farm to table concept. The thing is that long before creating the Mendoza winery, both Alejandro Vigil like his wife Maria Sance They came from families that grew their own food.
For this reason, when they decided to open a restaurant to accompany the wine proposal, they did not hesitate to move the garden with which they produced tomatoes, Brussels sprouts and onions, among other inputs for industrial sale, to the entrance of their project, and enlarge it. for the enjoyment of all its visitors. “The design was based on French gardens, using a grid and regular geometric shapes,” describes Vigil.
With organic management, the garden is also part of the Till project: a sustainable productive initiative that provides 90% of the raw materials to prepare all the products consumed at Casa Vigil. To complement, they incorporated local producers who provide the rest of the vegetables that are part of the dishes. Because, here too, unity is strength.
