ONE of the island’s leading hotels is going green, serving guests fresh fruit and vegetables grown in Bahrain’s backyard in support of its latest initiative … think global, eat local.
The Kempinski Grand & Ixir Hotel Bahrain City Centre has teamed up with Sadiq Farm, named after owner Sadiq Mirza from Karranah, to provide daily fresh herbs and food for its restaurants.
The concept came about when the hotel’s Executive Chef Stefanos Melianos visited Budaiya’s thriving Farmer’s Market to see what all the fuss was about after reading about its popularity in GulfWeekly.
He was overwhelmed by the quality and variety of produce on offer from the numerous local farmers showing off their wares. It instantly reminded him of home as he recalls enjoying the harvest produced in the fields around his family’s home in Germany.
He said: “I grew up in a small village where I had the chance to see and discover the hard work and skill that goes into farming.
“Times may have changed but in my opinion, we have forgotten in our daily rush one of the most important things in life, the joy of good food.
“Yes, everyone is capable of finding whatever produce they need in the supermarkets nowadays at any time of the year due to globalisation and not having to buy food produced locally. So much comes in sterile packages and people do not necessarily even know where the food comes from.
“In many cases, food is flown from halfway across the world and as most people know, it often means that the produce is picked up when it’s half ripe and sprayed with preservatives to prepare it for the long journey.
“But I believe from a chef’s perspective that you should have a kind of connection to your product, understand where it comes from and who stands behind it.
“It might sound strange, but chefs should respect the products they use and have a personal relationship with the food they prepare.”
“In this respect, I wanted to bring back a more simple way of life as much as I can. I aim to maintain the international high standards of cuisine that Kempinski is globally renowned for, but sourcing as many of the ingredients as possible from Bahrain.
“The goal is to serve local produce with all its goodness picked and consumed fresh, combined with supporting the local farming industry and also reducing our carbon footprint.
“It is true that to a large extent people in Bahrain have to rely on foreign imports for many foodstuffs, however, surprisingly, much can still be found on the island from our local farmers.”
As Chef Stefanos admired the farmers market, he struck up a conversation with Mr Mirza, 35, a farmer following in the footsteps of his forefathers. He asked whether his team could visit the farm and possibly supply the hotel with fruit and vegetables.
Mr Mirza happily agreed to give them a tour of his farm. Chef Stefanos was accompanied by the hotel’s Chef de Cuisine Issam Seddoq and both were suitably impressed by the facility.
They were especially delighted with the quality of the broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, capsicums, and varieties of tomatoes, cucumbers, aubergine, courgette, herbs, salads, spring onions and water cress.
According to both chefs, it was ‘heaven’ for fresh food connoisseurs.
A second visit was arranged for the entire culinary team and the hotel’s general manager Mr Puneet Singh.
Chef Stefanos explained: “We are here to deliver quality to our guests but this doesn’t start by just buying the most expensive food.
“It starts from the core, which in our industry are all these young, talented and motivated chefs who work for us. If they have a personal relationship with the product, it inspires their creativity and automatically reflects in their dishes. Of course, the end result is that our guests benefit by having fresh food, prepared with locally-grown seasonal ingredients.”
For some of the chefs it was their first visit to a farm. The culinary crew teased their taste buds sampling some of the sweet cherry tomatoes straight off the vine, devouring crunchy capsicums with gusto and comparisons were made between traditionally grown and hydroponic cucumbers.
Senior Chef de Partie Tarryn said: “My first visit to the farm was truly amazing and inspiring. Seeing where our products are grown and the hard work that the owners and staff of the farm put into the process makes you appreciate the quality and taste of the product so much more.
