eating
ORGANIC LIVING TEXT ANITA RAO-KASHI
Urban farming, on rooftops and at street corners, is slowly taking over the food landscape of Denmark’s capital, Copenhagen, and is changing the way food is viewed and enjoyed.
F
rom the outside the sprawling building looked like its neighbours – quietly affluent without being ostentatious, something typical in Copenhagen’s Østerbro area. In its courtyard, a narrow, metallic spiral staircase wound its way to the building’s terrace located five floors above ground. At the top, it was a captivating scene. In front of me, rows and rows of greenery stretched out, with speckles of colour here and there, and each row quite different from the other. Against the concrete backdrop, the profusion of greenery was a surreal sight. Called ØsterGRO, getting its name from the area, this is a community urban farm initiative born just three years ago and responsible for sparking a trend that spread like wildfire. Partnered by 40 households, the roof farm is spread over approximately 600 sq. m and uses nearly 100 tons of soil on raised beds in wooden boxes and employs capillary technology for watering the plants.
EATING
This page: Denmark’s first rooftop farm, ØsterGRO. Alongside is a little restaurant called Gro Spiseri.
122
JetWings August 2017
Gro Spiseri / Copenhagen Media Centre
GREEN Connect to Copenhagen with Jet Airways’ codeshare partners KLM Royal Dutch Airlines from Amsterdam, and Air France from Paris.
JetWings August 2017 123
ORGANIC LIVING
Photographs on this page: Anita Rao-Kashi
Above: The communal table at Gro Spiseri. Below: Strawberries, rhubarb and more are grown at ØsterGRO’s farm.
The place not only grows vegetables and herbs but also keeps bees and rears chickens, with all the produce being shared by the households. What makes it utterly irresistible is a greenhouse at the far end set up as an eatery, called Gro Spiseri, which dishes up lovely meals with ØsterGRO’s produce. The evening I went, it was grey and nippy. A motley group of diners milled around, exchanging pleasantries and sipping on delicious drinks, while fragrant smells from the damp earth and the plants swirled around us, creating the perfect setting for the experience. Livia, one of the founders, spoke passionately about the history and philosophy of ØsterGRO and took us around to show the diverse produce, such as Swiss chard, lettuce, rhubarb, asparagus, artichoke, strawberries and a host of herbs and edible flowers among other things. We rushed back into the greenhouse as it started pouring heavily. Inside, a long wooden table flanked by benches was set. The meal was gloriously communal style under cosy, warm lighting. The cutlery and crockery were adorably mismatched and made a pretty picture with plump milk bottles filled with bunches of colourful flowers. Diners from more than half a dozen nationalities mingled and sat elbow to elbow, conversations flowing in many languages. For the next two hours, the food just kept coming: fried bread topped with green asparagus and lemon mayo, grilled artichoke heart with herbs and toasted yeast oil, scallops with blue mussel crème, grilled cucumber with smoked yogurt and garlic oil, Swiss chard with chicken stock and lemon
124
JetWings August 2017
JetWings August 2017 125
ORGANIC LIVING
Above: A neighbourhood urban farm in the Nørrebro area. Right: Meringue with grilled rhubarb and lemon curd served at Gro Spiseri.
QUICK GUIDE TO CREATE AN ORGANIC TERRACE GARDEN WHERE? Any space, be it a balcony or terrace, that gets at least 2–3 hours or more of direct sunlight will do. Even a wall would do, read up on vertical gardening and start growing.
IN WHAT? Repurposed tin cans, unglazed terracotta and natural clay pots are suitable for food gardening. Avoid containers with lead and asbestos.
SUNLIGHT
126
JetWings August 2017
While some plants need 3-4 hours of sunlight, others do well in semi-shade. Seeds sown in a tray don’t need direct sunlight for the first 1–2 weeks. Consider fitting a shade net in case plants don’t do well in blazing sun.
H20 On an average, watering every alternate day is good enough. Monitor your plants and you will notice when they look dried up or not. If you over-water, the water that drains out takes away the nutrients.
Photographs on this page: Anita Rao-Kashi; Illustration: Mallari / Shutterstock.com
zest and beautifully cooked chicken topped with onion powder and mizuna. The dishes came with garnishes of bright and colourful edible flowers and were served as sharing portions which helped expand conversations. Each course also came with its own wine. The meal ended with crunchy, snowy white meringue topped with grilled rhubarb compote and lemon curd, a fitting finale to the evening. The meal whet my appetite for the concept of urban farming; I discovered that the history of urban farming in Copenhagen, in fact, went back to 2011 when DYRK Nørrebro – an urban farming initiative – got permission to grow a rooftop garden in Nørrebro. Since then several of initiatives have taken root and there are many little plots of corner gardens or public spaces that have become community projects. I stumbled upon one such in the middle of residential complexes near Hellig Kors Kirke in Nørrebro. A triangular patch of land adjoining the community park had a plethora of beds with a mishmash of plants, and the edge was scattered with weathered and mossy wooden benches. In fact, sustainable food loop has been growing concept, especially in Denmark, and has slowly assumed the contour
JetWings August 2017 127
ORGANIC LIVING
Left & right: The Amass Restaurant’s garden is also used as the basis for a farmto-table initiative for local school children; The snug restaurant interiors.
128
JetWings August 2017
Jet Airways operates daily flights to Amsterdam from Mumbai and New Delhi, and daily flights to Paris from Mumbai. Connect to Copenhagen with our codeshare partners KLM Royal Dutch Airlines from Amsterdam, and Air France from Paris. QUICK FAC T S ACCOMMODATION
Copenhagen offers a variety of hotels and apartments for visitors. FOR MORE INFORMATION
On ØsterGRO, log on to www.oestergro.dk For a meal at Gro Spiseri, visit www.grospiseri.dk For Amass Restaurant, visit www. amassrestaurant.com Also log on to, www.visitcopenhagen.com
Photographs on this page: Courtesy of Mikkel Heriba / Amass Restaurant.
of sophistication while simultaneously attempting to provide a fresh appreciation about production and consumption of food. To this end, BioArk, a company which collaborates with restaurants to develop ‘sustainable food loops combining bio-inspired technologies with local nutrient streams’ has been doing remarkable work. It has helped set up a garden at Amass Restaurant with over 80 plant varietals which are used in the restaurant’s daily menu. But nothing can compete for sheer celebrity quotient with iconic chef Rene Redzepi of the Noma fame. Though Noma is now closed, it was known to have a small garden surrounding it. However, Redzepi has been working on opening a new place sometime this year – rumoured to be completely fed by a farm that is being established – in the fashionable and lively Christianshavn area. Adding a different dimension to the slow food movement are a handful of initiatives, which have been attempting to demystify the Danes and get visitors to dine on homemade food in a Danish household. In the hip Vesterbro district of Copenhagen, Rasmus Floor, a senior consultant with Danske Bank, shared a third-floor apartment with a roommate. An avid trekker and mountaineer, Rasmus thrived on immersing himself in cultures across the world and seemed to enjoy feeding complete strangers. In his modest living room, a four-seater wooden dining table accommodated three Indian guests and a large bowl of delicious seafood pasta. As the evening wore on, the pasta was garnished not just with flaky almonds and generous shavings of Parmesan but also hilarious and insightful conversations about cultural differences. Rasmus’ eyebrows kept hitting the hairline as we regaled him with hair-raising tales from India while he jumped between stories from his mountaineering pursuits and inherent Danish behaviour. The evening ended with fruit dipped in chocolate; the tangy fruit beautifully offset by rich chocolate. It was simple and yet complex. The multitude of flavours swirled and hit different notes on the palate, and on another level, served as a comment on the food experiences in Copenhagen.
JetWings August 2017 129
Urban farming, on rooftops and at street corners, is slowly taking over the food landscape of Denmark’s capital, Copenhagen, and is changing the way food is viewed and enjoyed.
F
rom the outside the sprawling building looked like its neighbours – quietly affluent without being ostentatious, something typical in Copenhagen’s Østerbro area. In its courtyard, a narrow, metallic spiral staircase wound its way to the building’s terrace located five floors above ground. At the top, it was a captivating scene. In front of me, rows and rows of greenery stretched out, with speckles of colour here and there, and each row quite different from the other. Against the concrete backdrop, the profusion of greenery was a surreal sight. Called ØsterGRO, getting its name from the area, this is a community urban farm initiative born just three years ago and responsible for sparking a trend that spread like wildfire. Partnered by 40 households, the roof farm is spread over approximately 600 sq. m and uses nearly 100 tons of soil on raised beds in wooden boxes and employs capillary technology for watering the plants.
EATING
This page: Denmark’s first rooftop farm, ØsterGRO. Alongside is a little restaurant called Gro Spiseri.
122
JetWings August 2017
Gro Spiseri / Copenhagen Media Centre
GREEN Connect to Copenhagen with Jet Airways’ codeshare partners KLM Royal Dutch Airlines from Amsterdam, and Air France from Paris.
JetWings August 2017 123
ORGANIC LIVING
Photographs on this page: Anita Rao-Kashi
Above: The communal table at Gro Spiseri. Below: Strawberries, rhubarb and more are grown at ØsterGRO’s farm.
The place not only grows vegetables and herbs but also keeps bees and rears chickens, with all the produce being shared by the households. What makes it utterly irresistible is a greenhouse at the far end set up as an eatery, called Gro Spiseri, which dishes up lovely meals with ØsterGRO’s produce. The evening I went, it was grey and nippy. A motley group of diners milled around, exchanging pleasantries and sipping on delicious drinks, while fragrant smells from the damp earth and the plants swirled around us, creating the perfect setting for the experience. Livia, one of the founders, spoke passionately about the history and philosophy of ØsterGRO and took us around to show the diverse produce, such as Swiss chard, lettuce, rhubarb, asparagus, artichoke, strawberries and a host of herbs and edible flowers among other things. We rushed back into the greenhouse as it started pouring heavily. Inside, a long wooden table flanked by benches was set. The meal was gloriously communal style under cosy, warm lighting. The cutlery and crockery were adorably mismatched and made a pretty picture with plump milk bottles filled with bunches of colourful flowers. Diners from more than half a dozen nationalities mingled and sat elbow to elbow, conversations flowing in many languages. For the next two hours, the food just kept coming: fried bread topped with green asparagus and lemon mayo, grilled artichoke heart with herbs and toasted yeast oil, scallops with blue mussel crème, grilled cucumber with smoked yogurt and garlic oil, Swiss chard with chicken stock and lemon
124
JetWings August 2017
JetWings August 2017 125
ORGANIC LIVING
Above: A neighbourhood urban farm in the Nørrebro area. Right: Meringue with grilled rhubarb and lemon curd served at Gro Spiseri.
QUICK GUIDE TO CREATE AN ORGANIC TERRACE GARDEN WHERE? Any space, be it a balcony or terrace, that gets at least 2–3 hours or more of direct sunlight will do. Even a wall would do, read up on vertical gardening and start growing.
IN WHAT? Repurposed tin cans, unglazed terracotta and natural clay pots are suitable for food gardening. Avoid containers with lead and asbestos.
SUNLIGHT
126
JetWings August 2017
While some plants need 3-4 hours of sunlight, others do well in semi-shade. Seeds sown in a tray don’t need direct sunlight for the first 1–2 weeks. Consider fitting a shade net in case plants don’t do well in blazing sun.
H20 On an average, watering every alternate day is good enough. Monitor your plants and you will notice when they look dried up or not. If you over-water, the water that drains out takes away the nutrients.
Photographs on this page: Anita Rao-Kashi; Illustration: Mallari / Shutterstock.com
zest and beautifully cooked chicken topped with onion powder and mizuna. The dishes came with garnishes of bright and colourful edible flowers and were served as sharing portions which helped expand conversations. Each course also came with its own wine. The meal ended with crunchy, snowy white meringue topped with grilled rhubarb compote and lemon curd, a fitting finale to the evening. The meal whet my appetite for the concept of urban farming; I discovered that the history of urban farming in Copenhagen, in fact, went back to 2011 when DYRK Nørrebro – an urban farming initiative – got permission to grow a rooftop garden in Nørrebro. Since then several of initiatives have taken root and there are many little plots of corner gardens or public spaces that have become community projects. I stumbled upon one such in the middle of residential complexes near Hellig Kors Kirke in Nørrebro. A triangular patch of land adjoining the community park had a plethora of beds with a mishmash of plants, and the edge was scattered with weathered and mossy wooden benches. In fact, sustainable food loop has been growing concept, especially in Denmark, and has slowly assumed the contour
JetWings August 2017 127
ORGANIC LIVING
Left & right: The Amass Restaurant’s garden is also used as the basis for a farmto-table initiative for local school children; The snug restaurant interiors.
128
JetWings August 2017
Jet Airways operates daily flights to Amsterdam from Mumbai and New Delhi, and daily flights to Paris from Mumbai. Connect to Copenhagen with our codeshare partners KLM Royal Dutch Airlines from Amsterdam, and Air France from Paris. QUICK FAC T S ACCOMMODATION
Copenhagen offers a variety of hotels and apartments for visitors. FOR MORE INFORMATION
On ØsterGRO, log on to www.oestergro.dk For a meal at Gro Spiseri, visit www.grospiseri.dk For Amass Restaurant, visit www. amassrestaurant.com Also log on to, www.visitcopenhagen.com
Photographs on this page: Courtesy of Mikkel Heriba / Amass Restaurant.
of sophistication while simultaneously attempting to provide a fresh appreciation about production and consumption of food. To this end, BioArk, a company which collaborates with restaurants to develop ‘sustainable food loops combining bio-inspired technologies with local nutrient streams’ has been doing remarkable work. It has helped set up a garden at Amass Restaurant with over 80 plant varietals which are used in the restaurant’s daily menu. But nothing can compete for sheer celebrity quotient with iconic chef Rene Redzepi of the Noma fame. Though Noma is now closed, it was known to have a small garden surrounding it. However, Redzepi has been working on opening a new place sometime this year – rumoured to be completely fed by a farm that is being established – in the fashionable and lively Christianshavn area. Adding a different dimension to the slow food movement are a handful of initiatives, which have been attempting to demystify the Danes and get visitors to dine on homemade food in a Danish household. In the hip Vesterbro district of Copenhagen, Rasmus Floor, a senior consultant with Danske Bank, shared a third-floor apartment with a roommate. An avid trekker and mountaineer, Rasmus thrived on immersing himself in cultures across the world and seemed to enjoy feeding complete strangers. In his modest living room, a four-seater wooden dining table accommodated three Indian guests and a large bowl of delicious seafood pasta. As the evening wore on, the pasta was garnished not just with flaky almonds and generous shavings of Parmesan but also hilarious and insightful conversations about cultural differences. Rasmus’ eyebrows kept hitting the hairline as we regaled him with hair-raising tales from India while he jumped between stories from his mountaineering pursuits and inherent Danish behaviour. The evening ended with fruit dipped in chocolate; the tangy fruit beautifully offset by rich chocolate. It was simple and yet complex. The multitude of flavours swirled and hit different notes on the palate, and on another level, served as a comment on the food experiences in Copenhagen.
JetWings August 2017 129
