To the roots of Czech cuisine: Vegetables and the partnership between gastronomy and agriculture
Czech cuisine has always relied on the work of local farmers. This is not the only thing that the participants experience during the seminar which allows chefs to cross the threshold of a restaurant several times a year and see the effort it takes to grow honest ingredients. June's episode had vegetables as its theme, and a common ground with farmers, without whom gastronomy can't improve.
Market gardening and winter spinach
The two-day seminar started with a visit to JednorožecFarmwhich operates as part of the Farm School , accredited as a Higher Vocational School of Organic Agriculture and operates a concept called market gardening. In short, it is intensive cultivation of vegetables and fruit on a relatively small area, with the harvest being sold directly to the customer, either in the form of prepaid CSA boxes (short for community supported agriculture) to households or restaurants.
During the morning, there was a tour of the facility, including the foil boxes that help farmers extend the season and try winter growing of plants such as spinach. Spinach grows more slowly in winter and is harvested less, but once it has gone through the frost it becomes sweeter and takes on a different flavour and texture. "I see the quality of the raw materials in the approach, that is, in the process that happens before we harvest the vegetables," replied Benjamin, who is in charge of the farm. From his talk, it emerged that farmer don't learn about nature, they learn from it, and that the organic growing process is all about nourishing the soil and then the produce.
From the seed
"The ecologist must constantly think about diversity in and above the soil. Cultivated crops are the result of our efforts, the added value of agriculture, which was created many thousands of years ago so that people could grow food, but also to cultivate the land," said the founder of the Farm School Jiří Prachař in his lecture on the motives behind organic farming, plant breeding and the fact that the quality of vegetables is not only about yield and taste, although these are usually its main indicators. That is why Jirka decided to explain the differences between conventional and organic breeding:
"90% of what we have on our plates today are so-called hybrid plants, which are bred primarily for yield, without regard for the needs of the plants and the environment. These varieties tend to be short, shallow-rooted and difficult to resist drought, fungi and pests. This is true, for example, of cereals. Moreover, the seeds cannot be re-sown and used for cultivation." In contrast organic breeding respects the longevity of nature and has an undeniable effect on the quality of the vegetables.
"The organic breeder breeds the plant to be vital, naturally resistant and to take root deep in the ground where it can be in contact with micro-organisms and fungi. We want it a yield for humans, but also for the soil," continued Jirka, and finally opened the the essential topic of cooperation with gastronomy. In addition to mutual trust, this requires matching supply and demand.
"We would like to meet you, to join together as farmers and set aside areas for restaurants. Until now, we have seen the CSA system as the easiest form of marketing, but it can also work just as well to get you into the kitchens," Jirka said in a challenge for the coming years.
The Sustainability Award
Among other things, the Roots seminars lead to the realisation that there are far more links between gastronomy and agriculture than one might think. It is hard to work and not easy to find employees in both sectors, and in both sectors it is essential to care for people and human resources, but also to be good at maths. For this reason, the discussions at the lunch included pricing, which varies from business to business (restaurant to farm) depending on various factors - and forms part of its sustainability. Sustained cooperation and stable sales could ensure mutually beneficial prices.
"I have the feeling that we farmers often lack knowledge of the business side. I think it is important not to be afraid and to take risks. At the beginning of the season I never know how much I will sell, but I also never know exactly how much I will grow, because the harvest is mainly determined by nature," added farmer Hanka Součková "We see stability in CSAs, but we can get it in restaurants too, we just have to get closer to them. The restaurants need us to work on transport and consistency of quality, so we need to work on that more."
Urban farming, salads and sausages
In the afternoon, the expedition moved back to Prague to Prokop Farmwhich was built by Brett and Lucie Gallagher in the Prokop Valley on land owned by the Prague City Council. Part of the farm is located on Dívčí hrady, and it was there that the story began, how many mistakes and patience it takes to cultivate a landscape and how a farmer adapts to the area.
Potatoes, tomatoes, pumpkins, garlic, fruit bushes and trees thrive here, while a permaculture vegetable farm has grown in the valley, where the cooler climate benefits some 150 species of vegetables, herbs and flowers, especially various salads.
"We've found varieties that we can harvest by the leaf, not by the head. We let the hearts grow until they reach flowering," Lucie described growing lettuces, which are only available until about the end of July. Seasonality has its own deadlines and laws - and the summer heat is not good for leafy vegetables.
In addition to the beds, the the chicken run which turns the "waste" into compost for fertiliser and thus sustains life in the surrounding soil. "Growing the soil," Lucka summed up the philosophy of farmers who know that only healthy soil can produce healthy raw material. In the early evening, the aroma of toasted sausages was wafting through the valley and once again you could feel how close the world of farmers and cooks are to each other.
Day number two
"Among the oldest vegetables in the Czech Republic are horseradish and cabbage, with which are still associated with our cuisine and culture today," said Zuzana Benešová from Living Soil. Her presentation kicked off a block of lectures at the UM Education Centre and, in addition to the historical window, conveyed interesting data about Czech vegetable farming.
"We have excellent climatic conditions for cultivation, yet with a few exceptions, such as wheat, barley or sugar beet, we have to import common crops from abroad to a greater or lesser extent. We grow about 44% of our total consumption of vegetables. "One of the reasons for this is the dominance of industrial agriculture and the wide fields of maize, wheat and rape, which are easier for farmers to grow. To produce vegetables in the way you saw yesterday requires a lot more human labour."
Industrial agriculture is not only bad for the soil, but also is rapidly reducing biodiversity - only 30 species of vegetables are grown commercially in the Czech Republic and regional varieties have disappeared from the fields, such as the onion from Vlata or the salad from Mladá Boleslav. "We cannot say that organic is right and convention is wrong. It always depends on the individual farmer! At the same time, at the moment it is the case that if it were not for conventional production, we would have nothing to eat," emphasised Zuzana, who is behind the platform Regezem and supports the regenerative agriculture movement. This (even without any certification) focuses on the condition of the soil, because, after all, all types of agriculture and 99% of our livelihoods depend on it. And, of course, the taste, appearance and nutritional value of vegetables!
"Nutritional content of crops dramatically decreases. Climate change and soil depletion are to blame. The more carbon dioxide is in the atmosphere, the more lush the plants are, but their nutritional value decreases. To replenish the body with the necessary nutrients, we need to consume larger volumes of food," Susan noted, sharing the findings of a study on tomatoes grown in different regimes. Fruit grown regeneratively and from living soil contained the best ratio of vitamins, microelements and other beneficial substances.
Agrogastronomy - the study of food in context
The fact that quality is judged objectively and subjectively was discussed by Anna Grosmanová (a.k.a. Foodpioneer), who has been working on agro and gastro journalism and after many years of experience has created the field of agrogastronomy. Both the name and the practice combine two fields that cannot do without each other, which is why it is so desirable that they learn from each other.
"It's not a new field, we just didn't call it that until now. It used to be simply commodity science, but we want to go deeper and explore, how the farmer contributes to the quality of the food and then how the chef influences it in the kitchen. Agrogastronomy explores the relationship between agriculture and gastronomy and everything that happens between the field and the plate," Anička presented the initial idea and some examples of the advances the new science can bring. One such example is eidam from Struha Farm: the farmers, with the support of the chefs, decided to produce the cheese for the fried cheese offered at Lokal.
"We want to organise workshops where farmers or primary producers, chefs and other experts meet. Together we can discuss, educate ourselves on quality and sensory and arrive at outputs that will serve as a textbook for professionals and the average consumer. The aim is to answer the question of what we eat and why," Anička outlined her future plans.
Community gardens and fields by the metro station
Štěpán Říha, the founder of the urban farming project, came to UM to talk about the potential of urban farming of the MetroFarm projectwhich is being developed in cooperation with the City Hall. The project was organised in cooperation with the Prague City Council in Císařský ostrov, Jinonice and Letňany. "In all locations we are building a combination of urban farm and community garden, so that we grow vegetables for sale and at the same time give other growers or hobbyists the opportunity to become our members and get their own growing space. "This way we spread awareness and fulfil the social role of farms", Stepan, who is seeing an increasing interest in urban gardening, introduced his idea. His initial intention was no different.
"I wanted to grow food for myself and I found that I didn't have to flee Prague to do it, but instead I could transform the place where I live and connect the city with the countryside," he shares his story. The biggest transformation this year is taking place on land in Letňany, where the city has released an area of 23 hectares and where, among other things, it is proposed to produce vegetables for restaurants. In this context, Štěpán mentioned how important it is for farmers feedback from the chefs. They can thus contribute to expanding the supply and increasing the quality of Czech vegetables for their kitchens and other businesses, but also for households. Gastronomy has momentum!
"We already know that we can harvest enough local vegetables for our city from Prague's fields. Why should we import garlic from China or Argentina when we can grow it in Jinonice?" Štěpán asked the key question, to which it is useless to look for an answer. It would be more useful to find the ideal route from the farms to the restaurants.
The stars of the evening
In order to fulfil the purpose of the course, cooking must not be left out. At midday, therefore, the participants split into teams and set about preparing a tasting dinner. This time they were not tasked with devising the menu, but with getting it right and using it to to practice various techniques. Pre-written recipes and procedures showed how differently vegetables can be processed, which are as valuable as any other ingredient and can succeed in the main role.
The chefs prepared, for example, karashizuke of cucumber or carrots with bagna cauda dip, cooked early potatoes in water with elderflower syrup, but also a tomato sauce based on a 19th century recipe with bun dumplings. Vegetables are not just salad!
The evening's atmosphere was even more rarefied than ever. The tables were filled with seventeen farmers. The tasting was a thank you for the hard work of the farmers in the fields and their care for our land. It manifested a willingness to shake hands and realise that we are in this together. Gastronomy and agriculture.
