From garden to plate

A dozen renowned chefs, a mystery box cooking challenge using local and garden-picked ingredients, a bespoke outdoor kitchen and a locally grown ‘picking pantry’, Grow Ō Tautahi Food Ambassador Jax Hamilton is inspiring visitors to look to their gardens to ignite their cooking.

Jax will run the MacRae Landscape Design Garden Kitchen over the three days of Grow Ō Tautahi – Christchurch’s free Garden Festival in the Christchurch Botanic Gardens from 20-22 March 2020.

Each day of the festival, four new chefs will be challenged to create culinary delights from a mystery box of fresh, vegan or vegetarian ingredients – no meat or fish – and what they can pick themselves from surrounding gardens.

Visitors will glimpse into the creative minds of professional chefs and take away ideas and inspiration for their own dinner plates.

“You really don’t need a lot of space to grow a few herbs and ingredients that can put a ping on your plate,” Jax says.

“I want to share my food philosophy of ‘straight from your garden to your table’. A lot of the time we don’t know where our food comes from – but with a little inspiration I think we can encourage a healthier approach to cooking.”

Jax will lead the cooking demonstrations and help audiences engage with top chefs from around Christchurch and the South Island.

“All of our chefs will cook in a bespoke outdoor kitchen designed by the award-winning Davinia Sutton – we’re so lucky to have her involved; she has a real sparkle, like so many people around the Grow table.”