Sustainable Spaces

Resorts, no matter how distant from the city, are hoping guests will appreciate a lighter carbon ootprint and produce harvested from their backyard.

- Michael Karlo Lim

With influential figures in the food industry harping on sustainability and more conscious food waste and a growing population of people nipping at the heels of the organic movement, farm-to-table cuisine has never been as fashionable as it is today. What’s fascinating is that city restaurants aren’t the only ones joining the bandwagon: Beach and island resorts have also gone back to grassroots.

BACKYARD BOUNTY

Fundacion Pacita Batanes Nature Lodge in Basco, Batanes already had a small vegetable garden from which the house menu revolved around, along with what is available at the local market. As most of the produce is flown or shipped in from neighboring cities, distance and bad weather limited the menu choices. “When we thought of Café du Tukon, we knew we wanted to create a menu that highlighted the best of Batanes,” says Patsy Abad, who runs the lodge. “Our whole idea was to create something out of whatever is indigenous or locally available, dishes that did not rely heavily on goods coming from the mainland. It was just a matter of planning and adding more produce. So we slowly started expanding the vegetable garden. Today, we now have two farm locations just across and behind the café.”