Organic produce future of food industry

Neha Saini

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, October 15

Endorsing sustainable food practices and zero-waste kitchen, the just concluded World Heritage Cuisine Summit had encouraging advice for industry professionals as well as food lovers – Go natural. Since chef Manjit Gill, chairman, World Cultural Culinary Heritage Committee, took the initiative to raise the issue of sustainability through the event, the summit hosted local organic farmers as part of the food exhibition, who displayed their produce for the international culinary fraternity.

Anmol Singh, a farmer from Chappa Ram Singh, who brought variety of vegetables including broccoli and lettuce, said their was a huge demand of organic produce, but limited avenues for farmers to meet it. “The extent of the produce required to cater to the growing demand for organic food products is quite large. Most of the farmers, including us, produce at a limited scale. The gap has to be filled,” he said.

He said the encouragement received at the summit was good, but a lot had to be done to put words into action. “Most chefs and restaurants do not work with local farm produce, which is a big drawback. If they collaborate with local organic farmers and design specific organic food menu or work with seasonal produce only, farmers can benefit financially.”

At the panel discussion held on sustainable food practices, the chefs advocated the idea of adopting the goals under the UN’s Suitability Goals 2030 manifesto. “One of the key aspects of encouraging sustainable food practices is to go back to basics. Not just endorse farm to fork but also fork to farm concept, with zero-waste kitchen and coming out with ideas to reduce food wastage,” said chef Manjit Gill.

Gunbir Singh, chairman, Dilbir Foundation that has been collaborating with organic farmers, said, “The exposure of organic farmers to expectations of the global community and the use of their organic produce by chefs of many countries in their master classes was an incredible opportunity provided by the World Heritage Food Summit. The global and Indian chefs were delighted by the fresh aromas of pure spices on display at the organic farmers market at the venue. Almost all of them appreciated and carried with them condiments, forest honey, pure turmeric as well as a host of other products on display, and thus an interaction beyond compare occurred that has potential for the future.”