The Garden To The Table

Singapore is sprouting fertile plots of land near, around, and even inside restaurants, closing the gap between food sources and dinner tables.

- Fabian Loo

Most crops are grown close to the ground. But at CapitaSpring, a 51-storey high skyscraper in Raffles Place, harvesting takes place on the roof.

It is home to 1-Arden Food Forest, believed to be the highest farm of its kind in the world. The greens grown here are used directly in the kitchens of restaurants within the building. The project is part of a wave of local F&B concepts that have chosen to plant fertile plots within their premises in the last year.

With the pandemic bringing issues of food security to the fore, these thriving kitchen gardens are bridging the gap between food sources and the dinner table, and even providing a fertile ground for chefs and farmers to collaborate.

“It underscores the importance of properly understanding the provenance of the food we eat, while providing fresh, bespoke ingredients for chefs to cook,” says Christopher Millar, culinary director of 1-Group. At the 1-Arden Food Forest, sustainability is served on the plates of three on-site eateries: Sol and Luna, a Latin-European bistro, the Australian-inspired Kaarla Restaurant & Bar, and Oumi that serves Japanese kappo cuisine.

“Eating locally, of course, reduces the carbon footprint,” adds Millar. “It also highlights the importance of food security as the climate, geopolitical situations, and population growth make food chains less reliable and costly.”