Eating Well

THE catchphrase dominating the culinary industry world wide has got to be 'Sustainable Cuisine'. Essentially, it's about how food lovers can indulge their appetites without damaging the earth. At the same time, chefs relentlessly seek out ingredients that are grown in a responsible way without depleting natural resources or upsetting the ecosystem.

"Farm to table" is a natural solution but in land-scarce, agriculture-challenged Singapore, this is easier said than done.

Florian Ridder - chef of Summerhouse out in the recently gentrified Seletar Airbase - one who feels that it's a challenge worth undertaking. "I don't want to sound all too hippy, but we really have no other choice - we are destroying our own living conditions on this planet." He points to how the earth is fast approaching a critical tipping point, with deforestation playing a major role in accelerating global warming, and how over-fishing has decimated seafood stocks.