Organic farming and food is widespread now, but just a few decades
ago, you’d have to go considerably out of your way to find it. The
movement’s roots can be traced to the beginnings of biodynamic
agriculture, an approach developed in 1924 by Austrian scientist
and philosopher Rudolf Steiner – although it can be argued that
many farmers around the world had followed similar practices
before that. Like organic farming, biodynamic growing strictly
prohibits the use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides, but it also
goes a few steps further than that, treating farms as balanced
organisms that can sustain themselves, with waste being recycled
to feed plants and animals. It adheres to a horticultural calendar,
used to indicate optimal sowing, pruning and harvesting times.
Not only does this approach benefit our ecosystem, but the quality
of the produce it yields is so good, it’s sought after by the country’s
top restaurants and cooks, including Nigel Slater and the Hemsley
sisters. Acclaimed chef Skye Gyngell was an early advocate, sourcing
ingredients for her London restaurant Spring from Fern Verrow,
a biodynamic farm in Herefordshire run by grower Jane Scotter.
Gyngell is also at the helm of the kitchens at Heckfield Place in
Hampshire, which is currently in the process of converting its
gardens and on-site farm to biodynamics. Aiming to be fully certified
next year, Heckfield will be the first biodynamic hotel in the UK.
For its contemporary European dishes (above), Peckham-based
restaurant Levan teams up with allotment growers who use
biodynamic principles on a small scale. ‘The plots are so local that
the tomatoes can still be warm from the sun when they arrive,’
enthuses chef Nicholas Balfe. With around 5,000 biodynamic farms
worldwide, you can expect to see it on a menu near you soon.THE CULINARY ETHOS
BIODYNA MICS Top chefs are tasting the benefits of this age-old method of growing food
WO R D S: K AT E WO RT H I N GTO N P I C T U R E: M AT T R U S S EL L19 0 ELLEDECORATION.CO.UK AU G U S T 2019
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