How These Luxury Resorts are Growing Their Own Organic Ingredients

How These Luxury Resorts are Growing Their Own Organic Ingredients

Have you ever wondered where the food you’re eating is coming from while on vacation? These luxury resorts The Tryall Club, Las Qolqas Eco ResortMontage Resort, Wilderness Safaris and Bushcamp Company have taken organic homegrown to a new level. The resorts offer a variety of ingredients grown right on property that guests certainly appreciate. According to Pew Research about four-in-ten adults eat organic foods and about 68% of them say organic fruits and vegetables are better for your health. Dining can be healthy and luxurious!

Tryall Club's Organic Garden: The Tryall Club provides a distinctive selection of private villas in Montego Bay, Jamaica, including spacious, lovely villas ideal for families, plush oceanfront beach cottages, and one-bedroom condos for couples. The Organic Garden is tucked away at the end of Calypso Way, beautifully enclosed by a picket fence, and filled with plantains and bananas. The resort cultivates a variety of produce for use at the Beach Café and Great House Restaurant here, under the close supervision of Eric and Mark. Arugula, which packs a particularly energizing peppery punch, callaloo, both red and green, spinach, bulb fennel, four types of tomato, bell peppers, Chinese peppers, cucumber, zucchini, sorrel, and a huge variety of herbs, including many varieties of basil, are among the crops planted.

The Orchard at Las Qolqas: (pictured) Las Qolqas is located in Ollantaytambo, at the heart of Peru's Sacred Valley. They offer luxury tents for the ultimate immersive experience. Prior to the arrival of the Conquistadores, Peru's ancient civilizations developed agriculture in the difficult Andean Mountains over the period of thousands of years. They domesticated hundreds of different plant species, including corn, potatoes, quinoa, and kiwicha, for their own use. They also created sophisticated irrigation systems and used intricate terracing techniques to landscape the steep mountain sides. The resort made the restaurant a greenhouse since a zero-mile policy motivated us to cultivate seeds as close to the dining tables as feasible.

The Studio at Montage Hotels: Montage Laguna Beach is a luxury seaside resort offering elegant accommodations, an oceanfront spa, impressive dining outlets, and flawless personal service fit for a luxurious Orange County escape. Led by Chef de Cuisine Benjamin Martinek, Montage Laguna Beach’s signature dining destinations offer refined and inventive menus of seasonal Californian cuisine reflecting the bounty of fruits and vegetables produced throughout the region. The Studio Garden (named for the resort’s signature restaurant) provides herbs for cooking and garnishing, vegetables for crudités and main dishes, and even components used in the resort's cocktail menus – some standouts include homemade lemon verbena simple syrup and orange bitters. Images can be found here and here

Organic Vegetable Gardens at Wildnerness Safaris: Wilderness Safaris’ Bisate Lodge, situated alongside an eroded volcanic cone, offers sweeping views towards the Karisimbi, Bisoke, and Mikeno volcanoes. Comprised of just six spacious forest villas, Bisate offers travelers a luxurious base from which they can enjoy this breathtaking wildlife corridor, one of the last unspoiled natural habitats of the critically endangered Mountain Gorilla species, which Wilderness Safaris is dedicated to conserving and protecting. Fresh supplies for the kitchen are picked straight from the camp’s own organic vegetable gardens, where companion planting is practiced (as symbiotic relationships have been shown to enhance the growth and yield of both plants), as well as succession planting, to ensure the soil is continually renewed and enriched. Additionally, any organic waste at Bisate is composted for use in the vegetable gardens and reforestation nursery, while non-compostable organic waste is used by the local community’s neighboring pig farmers. 

The Farm at Buschcamp Company: A small collection of luxury camps in Zambia’s South Luangwa National Park, The Bushcamp Company is located in one of the last unspoiled regions of Africa. In recent years, the company has made their operation as ‘green’ as possible, including The Farm at their award-winning Mfuwe Lodge, which allows them to provide fresh and seasonal fruit, vegetables, salad and herbs for their kitchens without the added carbon footprint of food transport from hundreds of miles away. The Farm is forever growing and developing, with any excess harvest used to make delicious staples in Mfuwe Lodge’s kitchen such as jams and marmalades, juices, sauces, and salsas, as well as sundried fruits and tomatoes.