Photo: NESFAS/ Donboklang Majaw
Chef Fabio’s met the NESFAS Cook’s Alliance today. The brief session began with Fabio sharing with the 10 cooks hailing form various villages of Meghalaya how his restaurant in Amsterdam was born. “When we started Pianeta Terra, we wanted it to be fully organic and local.” But the road towards realising this is not at all easy. Farmers are hard to find in a small country in Netherlands, especially farmers who grow organic food. “Netherlands is small.” Fabio said, “We have to go look out for them ourselves”.
In 2009, an alliance was created to lessen the gap between the food producers and the consumers , for one cannot be independent of the other. Four restaurants from Netherlands piloted the movement with initiation from Slow Food to start the Chef’s Alliance. The number stands today at a global 150, with the current tally of 50 restaurants in Netherlands itself. “50 restaurants in a small place like Holland can make a huge difference indeed.” Fabio explained.
The concept of the Chef’s Alliance may be easy in theory, but hard to put it into practice. There are a few things, Fabio elucidated to the gathering that needs to be kept in mind while being a part of the alliance. Firstly, the alliance firmly believes in the “Good, Clean and Fair” philosophy of Slow Food. Good to eat, Clean to the planet and the body and Fair to the producers and consumers alike. Secondly, traditional and local knowledge in food preparation is to be of prime importance to the chefs. Third, all that constitutes the alliance should learn from each other.
The session was concluded with a scrumptious meal cooked by the 10 for Chef Fabio.
