Locally-sourced, seasonal produce is increasingly important in the restaurant trade. It couldn’t be much easier in Vienna, given that the city grows so much of its own food. And even in winter, the capital’s restaurants don’t have to go without locally-grown vegetables as the winter harvests deliver much more than most people realize. And now, in a bid to increase the popularity of home-grown produce, an association of local chefs is now focusing on the subject at the Koch.Campus, where expert restauranteurs and producers regularly get together to discuss all the latest innovations and trending topics. At their latest get-together in the capital, all eyes were on winter veg and its rich potential for the way we eat in future. Hardy vegetables are highly sustainable – after all, they grow out in the fields or in unheated greenhouses, so they do not require any additional energy. And then there are the advantages that come with crops being grown right on our doorstep, which cuts out lengthy delivery routes.

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Seasonal Showcase

The Koch.Campus was invited to the Augarten City Farm, which is playing a pioneering role in winter vegetable growing practices. Right next door to the Augarten Porcelain Manufactory, the city farm has a nursery where its own produce is also on sale. It cultivates a broad mix of winter veg that you’d be hard pressed to find anywhere else – from countless varieties of cabbage and root vegetables to winter lettuces, and hardy herbs to different kinds of chicory. Visitors can even sample the produce fresh from the ground during a guided tour of the show garden. The sheer variety of arugula types — from wasabi rucola to mustard rucola — illustrates the different flavor profiles to an impressive degree. Even the ornamental cabbage is edible. And tastes great. Delivered to restaurants all over the city, the vegetables grown here can also be bought directly from the market stall.

The Taste of Winter

A masterclass showing what winter vegetables can become in skilled hands provided an eye-opening experience at the Koch.Campus. Led by acclaimed chef Heinz Reitbauer from Vienna’s three-star restaurant Steirereck, the team embraced the theme of ice and frost, serving winter produce in its purest form – lightly marinated and presented on ice to let its natural flavor do the talking. Kohlrabi leaves were paired with whey, tatsoi with fermented lemon. At Michelin-starred vegetarian restaurant Tian, Paul Ivić and his kitchen team demonstrated the culinary potential of various radish and beet varieties. Michael Peceny, affectionately known as “Miraculix” among his colleagues at Tian, served a fermented beet drink. Next from the kitchen came a soup made from Crapaudine beets and salt-baked Goldeneye beets. The sweet beetroot fruit gummies are also fun. This is what the future of food looks like.

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