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Eat your greens: New dining events here celebrate the humble vegetable

The days of vegetables as an afterthought are gone. I’m not saying menus have been flipped on their heads and you now have a choice between a steak au poivre and Romanesco broccoli for your main course.

The days of vegetables as an afterthought are gone. I’m not saying menus have been flipped on their heads and you now have a choice between a steak au poivre and Romanesco broccoli for your main course.

But the ubiquitous slab of animal protein that once commanded the menu, now shares it with satisfying and sometimes show-stealing dishes starring the once-humble vegetable. And as more diners here look to vegetarian restaurants with equal enthusiasm, more top chefs across the globe — including Noma’s Rene Redzepi, Julien Royer of Odette, Andre Chiang (Restaurant Andre) and Jason Tan (Corner House), among others — are turning artisan crops into rightful stars of the table.

“Growing up, vegetables were the stuff of nightmares,” said Rita Tan, a mother of four boys. “Today, cucumbers are actually cool.”

This budding interest is exactly what community food project Open Farm Community (OFC), a restaurant-cum-farming community launched this year, will be banking on when its first Social Market event takes place next weekend (Nov 28 from 9am to 2.30pm, and Nov 29 from 9am to 4pm). The aim is to encourage “citysumers” to develop a deeper and more meaningful relationship with their food.

“This is a collective for local farmers, artisans and the local community to come together, and this inaugural event will be the first in a series of markets,” said Cynthia Chua, founder of Spa Esprit Group, which is a partner of OFC, along with Chef Ryan Clift of Tippling Club and urban farmers Edible Garden City.

“We hope to establish a platform for enthusiasts, local producers and growers to come together, exchange and grow their knowledge. Through OFC’s Social Market, we hope that more people will come and interact with the farmers to learn about where their food comes from, and celebrate the time spent outdoors,” she explained.

The Social Market will consist of approximately 25 vendors, including Edible Garden City, proffering items from rocket to eggplant and everything in between, as well as locally grown fruits such as wild passion fruit and starfruit.

“We hope to grow a strong community of people who have an interest in urban farming and want to be a part of the movement,” said Edible Garden City’s co-founder Bjorn Low. “OFC’s Social Market is a great place for people to come by and experience the vegetable and herb gardens, understand a large variety of produce can be grown in Singapore.”

He added that it is also a great place for the community to meet the local farmers and artisans, which he hopes will inspire more “to establish their connection with nature” and eventually jump on board the Grow Your Own Food movement.

Another highlight of the event are bees. Yes, you read right. Xavier Chi Ko Tan, manager of Nutrinests, will share his knowledge of bees and educate more people about how important they are to the agriculture industry. “We practise bee keeping, and bee rescuing in both Malaysia and Singapore, through which we produce fresh, raw honey,” he said. “I want to teach people that they do have a choice when it comes removing bees from their home without killing them. It’s all about education. I will be letting customers select a honeycomb and learn to spin their own honey from it (as) I believe that this will create an understanding of the difference between fresh, locally produced honey, and commercial brands at supermarkets. I believe that supporting local produce means being sure of how original and unadulterated your product is.”

Visitors can also find out more from vendors such as Oh’ Farms, the pioneer hydroponics farm in Singapore that grows tropical vegetables and high-value aromatic herbs; and pioneers of urban rooftop farming ComCrop, who own a vertical farm at Orchard Road on top of the *Scape building.

In line with its picnic-theme, there will also be grub-to-go such as cold cuts by locally based delicatessen Casse-Croute, vegan-friendly acai bowls by Selva Foods and gourmet food truck pioneer Kerbside Gourmet. Artisans such as Momoco, round out the festive market with homemade jams in familiar flavours such as jackfruit and lap cheong (Chinese sausage).

DINE-IN DELIGHTS

But that’s not the only veggie-inspired activity happening next week. In an inspired first, artesian bottled water producer FIJI Water and online restaurant reservations provider The Chope Group have partnered to launch Gourmet Greens Week (GGW), from Nov 23 to 29. Featuring all-vegetarian set menus by 17 of Singapore’s hottest restaurants (with a flat price of S$30 for a four-course set lunch; S$45 for a four-course set dinner); it offers cuisines such as Balinese, French, Italian, Indian and Mediterranean. (Incidentally, only two vegetarian restaurants are taking part — Original Sin and Afterglow by Anglow, which specialises in farm-to-table raw vegetarian and vegan fare.)

“A lot of care goes into preparing a vegetable dish, simply because you are dealing with such delicate produce; so we do hope that through this promotion, more guests will appreciate the level of culinary attention behind our menu,” said Marissa Bertocchi of Singapore’s first Mediterranean vegetarian restaurant Original Sin, which has been championing a love for vegetables for more than two decades.

Neon Pigeon executive chef Justin Hammond said it is not so much about tweaking his approach to creating a satisfying menu, but in ensuring the same respect is given to vegetables.

“This menu is structured no different from all my menus; I need to make the main element shine through ... and add something no one sees coming, but which totally works,” he said. “I mean, anyone can get a great piece of steak and keep it simple and make it shine. Taking broccoli and elevating it to legendary status takes true thought and a skill set unlike any other.”

His featured dish of miso roasted pumpkin rice with sugar snap peas, crispy garlic chips and egg yolk is a good example. Focusing on delivering a texturally rich and flavourful dish, Hammond combines pumpkin roasted with red miso in a risotto cooked in a “vegetarian dashi stock using ma kombu (kelp) and dried shiitake mushrooms for umami, instead of the traditional katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes)”, to which he enriches by blending in sweet caramelised onions that were cooked for a few hours.

On the other hand, chef Polo Seah, the group executive chef for Humpback and Sugarhall (both of which are taking part in GGW), has chosen to celebrate select vegetables by featuring them in a dish prepared three ways.

“We have created a sunchoke dish, (in which) we prepare the sunchoke three ways — deep fried, pureed and pickled, served with kale chips for added savouriness and texture, and paired with honeycomb, which accentuates the sweetness of the dish,” he said.

For the featured menu at the latter, he has included a beetroot tarte tatin. “We roast beetroot in a salt crust before serving it on a bed of puff pastry lathered in mascarpone and creme fraiche. We also serve it with pickled golden beets from Holland, candied pecan nuts and a balsamic reduction.”

Other creative use of the trendy beetroot can be found in Luxe Sydney chef Joshua Lovi’s dish of quinoa and beetroot falafel with minted yoghurt and greens. The executive chef of Luxe Sydney said he wanted to put a twist on the usual falafel “by replacing chickpeas with quinoa, a highly nutritious grain, and beetroot, for a lovely earthy sweetness”.

“We steam the quinoa first, before mixing it with roasted beetroot; roasting brings out the sweetness in beetroot the best,” he said.

What’s sweeter though is that efforts such as these do not promote vegetables as a substitute to animal protein, but instead celebrate their delicious versatility.

For more information on Open Farm Community’s events, call 6471 0306 or visit http://www.openfarmcommunity.com.

Bookings for Gourmet Greens Week sessions can be made at http://www.chope.co/singapore-restaurants.

Click to eat

For more delish deals and news on what’s hot on the scene, download the 8 Days Eat App at http://www16.mediacorp.sg/8days/8daysapp2.html

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