The Concept:

Bringing London’s chefs together for a cooking competition, where they’ll have to create a dish using only sustainable ingredients from the hydroponic farm. The aim is to shine a spotlight on Raan’s sustainability method and educate guests about eco-conscious dining. Proceeds from ticket sales will go direct to either the Felix Project, or a sustainability charity. This could tie in really well with Earth Day in April.

Logistics:

We will collate a list of chefs that have a particular focus on sustainability and invite them to participate in the competition. A few include: Nuno Mendes from Lisboeta, Simon Rogan, Chantelle Nicholson, Dan Cox, Brendan Eades, etc.

We will collaborate with the hydroponic farm to provide a selection of fresh, sustainable ingredients for the competition. The chefs will be responsible for sourcing their own meat and bringing other ingredients, but will need to be transparent about where they are sourced from.

It would be great to have a panel of judges including a mix of food critics and editors, sustainability experts, and leaders in the industry.

The event will be open to the public, with a portion of the ticket sales donated to a select charity. The chefs will need to make enough dishes to serve the audience.

The Competition:

At the beginning of the competition, each chef will be given a limited-time to choose their produce from the farm. The chefs will have a limited time to cook their dishes and present them to the judges as well as the audience. The panel of judges will evaluate each dish on taste, presentation and the level of sustainability as well as how well they incorporated the hydroponic ingredients. The audience will also judge and score each dish they try. At the end of the evening, the ‘Judges Winner’ and ‘People’s Choice Winner’ will be announced.