What started off as an enterprise that helped restaurants build on the farm-to-table concept has expanded into hotels and team-building workshops. Photo Credit: Edible Garden City
Edible Garden City is a social enterprise set up in Singapore a
decade ago, with the aim of creating a sustainable agricultural business
within urban spaces. It designs, builds and maintains food gardens
within Singapore, championing the ‘grow-your-own’ food movement. All
these food gardens need is an alfresco space with a bit of sunlight,
with gardens based on rooftops and on the ground.
Edible Garden City initially helped businesses within the food &
beverage sector, working with chefs and restaurants to develop the ‘farm
to table’ concept. More recently, it has focused its efforts on hotels,
helping to build edible farms at the properties, where produce can then
be used by the venues. In the last 10 years, Edible Garden City has
built around 280 gardens for hotels and restaurants, as well as schools,
private homes and property developers.
“Once we’ve installed these edible gardens, we start to see the real
value of these spaces to engage the community around issues such as food
sustainability and alternative ways to farming,” says Bjorn Low,
executive director at Edible Garden City. “They have become a meeting
space for like-minded people to come together to advocate food
sustainability.”
Edible gardens have become a meeting space for like-minded people to come together to advocate food sustainability.
Bjorn Low, executive director, Edible Garden City
Low says there are three main objectives: create social impact,
foster community engagement and tackle environmental challenges. Farm to
fork has been a trend for some time; as Low outlines, a newer trend,
driven in part by Covid, is peoples’ desire to identify where their food
has come from and a stronger understanding of improved agricultural
practices and urban farming.
While Edible Garden City currently operates in Singapore only, it
says it has been actively engaging with other destinations such as
Bangkok, Manila and cities in Indonesia and Malaysia, to increase
awareness of urban farming.
Corporate groups can take part in team-building experiences themed
around sustainability at Edible Garden City’s base in Queenstown, where
they can try gardening activities or join a multi-sensory farm tour,
while an edible garden can also be installed in office spaces.
Edible Garden City also supplies freshly harvested farm herbs, such
as edible flowers and greens, to more than 220 dining establishments
across Singapore, from local cafés to Michelin-starred restaurants. It
has also built edible gardens for a number of hotels, including Marina
Bay Sands, Resorts World Sentosa and Parkroyal Collection Marina Bay.
“The MICE industry is a sector that has a big part to play with
regards to sustainability, considering the amount of food it imports and
the waste that can be generated at events,” says Low. “With Singapore
being a major hub for business travel, and with its Green Plan 2030, our
initiatives are helping to raise awareness of Singapore becoming a
sustainable island. It’s important that we all work together to position
the destination in a positive light. If more venues come on board, we
can tell one story instead of multiple ones.”