Summertime saw the Natural Gourmet Institute introducing a novel certificate program in sustainable farming.
In the heart of New York City, students and chefs recently embarked on a unique educational journey at the Natural Gourmet Institute. The programme, which focused on agriculture and culinary perspectives, aimed to provide a deeper understanding of ingredient sourcing in a health-supportive kitchen.
Jay Weinstein, the lead instructor of the programme, emphasised the importance of various farming methods in creating a sustainable food system. He believes that urban farming, large-scale organic farming, and biodynamic farming are all pieces of the same puzzle.
The Natural Gourmet Institute made history this summer by offering a certificate in sustainable field cultivation for the first time. Eleonore Buschinger, a student who attended the programme, is an intrepid traveler and a passionate eater from Paris, France. When she's not eating or thinking about food, she can be found on her bicycle with her camera snapping shots of the city.
Eleonore is also pursuing her M.A. in Food Studies at New York University. The two-week intensive course brought together students from various backgrounds. The curriculum covered topics such as composting, seeding, weeding, animal husbandry, biodiversity, farm policy, and more.
The students spent a week working on an urban farm, the Brooklyn Grange, and a week on a biodynamic farm, the Hawthorne Valley Farm. Shared meals at the Hawthorne Valley Farm contributed to making the programme unique, according to Tina. Every evening at the farm, students cooked and ate together, fostering a sense of community and shared purpose.
The course culminated in the largest climate march in history, which occurred a couple of weeks ago. The march focused on discussing the current agricultural system's impact on climate change. Jay Weinstein, in his address, emphasised the need to make agriculture greener, particularly on a large scale, as one of today's biggest challenges.
According to Weinstein, the Brooklyn Grange and the Hawthorne Valley Farm have different but overlapping functions: Brooklyn Grange provides a sense of the future, while the Hawthorne Valley Farm provides a sense of the past. The certificate programme at the Natural Gourmet Institute aims to bridge this gap, offering a holistic approach to sustainable farming and cooking.
A health-supportive kitchen can play a role in creating and maintaining a healthy planet. By understanding the origins of our food and the methods used to grow it, we can make more informed choices about what we eat and how it is produced. The students who completed the programme at the Natural Gourmet Institute have taken a significant step towards becoming agents of change in the food industry.
