RHS Festival of Flavours to sow the seeds of diversity
‘GROWERS AND CHEFS WILL COME TOGETHER TO SHOWCASE INGREDIENTS AND RECIPES’
THE Royal Horticultural Society appreciates that nothing brings people together than sharing food which is why it is holding a “Festival of Flavours” this autumn to coincide with anticipated bumper harvests of fruits and vegetables.
It is working closely with its “ambassador for inclusivity”, the award-winning garden designer Manoj Malde, who told Eastern Eye, “Certainly, in my household, the kitchen is where everyone congregates. Things always happen around food. It’s very much the Indian thing that whenever somebody comes to your house, you want to feed them.
“Food and ingredients and flavours are a great way of bringing people together.”
He added: “When you get people from different backgrounds, different cultures, different traditions, who are passionate about what they’re doing and are also engaging with horticulture, gardening and design, you’re getting different thought patterns coming through. That can be very enriching for gardening and horticulture as a whole.
“Wouldn’t it be lovely if people could come and just taste some of the food that’s being cooked by celebrity chefs and be able to look around the RHS gardens? I think it’s a great way of bringing people from all walks of life together.”
The RHS said the event, to be celebrated at all its five gardens, “will bring together growers and chefs, communities and schools, families, foodies and gardeners of all ages and backgrounds”.
The RHS will also be sharing new advice and inspiration online so anyone can get involved at home, in communities or in schools.
It points out that “with the recent warm, bright weather and more to come, RHS experts predict a bumper year for many fruit and vegetables, meaning UK gardens and allotments will be abundant with the likes of courgette, carrots, tomato and beetroot, all of which require little watering. A wide variety of delicious ingredients that can be grown at home, from traditional autumn fare like kale and turnips to more unusual varieties such as cucamelons, chicories and kohlrabi, will be showcased throughout the festival, along with mouth-watering recipes from across the globe.”
It promises “top chefs will be cooking up dishes, from Chinese and Indian through to British and Italian, made with ingredients picked fresh from the gardens at live demonstrations, while visitors will have the chance to learn from RHS experts, browse world food stalls, take tours of the edible gardens and participate in autumnal crafts and apple identification sessions”.
Although summer is well advanced, there are tips from the RHS chief horticulturalist, Guy Barter, on what can be sowed even now ready to be harvested and eaten in the autumn.
He suggests Pak Choi, Chicories, Kohlrabi and French beans. He says that “various herbs, including chervil, coriander, dill and parsley, are an integral part of many world recipes and can be sown as late as August”.
Malde and his mother enjoyed putting the peas, which have been plentiful in his garden, into a “delicious curry”.
Above all, he wants Asians to get involved. “If you want things to happen, that’s the way to do it. That’s what I did. My career in horticulture and gardening has been based on getting involved in RHS gardens, the show gardens, and all of that. If we’re going to make a positive impact, then that’s the way to do it.”
Something he has suggested to the RHS is that its gardens, which are classically English and stunningly beautifully, should consider including features from other cultures.
Malde said: “I would love to see the day when some of these RHS gardens had a beautiful Mughal style garden. There could be an Afro-Caribbean style garden. There are ways that these gardens can be created.”
Malde explained his thinking: “We now live in a very multicultural society. We’re blessed with that in this country. And what the RHS is trying to achieve is getting people from other backgrounds, other cultures involved in horticulture and gardening. It’s important to start introducing ideas that relate to those people.
“They’ve got these beautiful English country gardens, cottage gardens. But how many people from ethnic backgrounds, say Indian or West Indian backgrounds, make connections to those sorts of gardens? If we want to attract these people to come and visit our gardens, visit the shows, there’s got to be something there that relates back to them. That could be something that reminds them of home or part of that culture.
He acknowledges that “the RHS does so much work in the community as well. Gardening is not necessarily just about going to RHS gardens. It’s all about gardening in your own community gardens as well. It’s whether one wants to actually get involved.”
That said, he feels RHS gardens “should also be growing ingredients that relate to other communities, like methi (Fenugreek) and coriander. A lot of Indian communities eat moongre, which is the legume of radish. I don’t know if it’s going to be possible to grow bitter gourd (karela) in this country. There are certain Colocasias I know that in my community we make bhajias out of. There are so many other ingredients that we can grow that can connect with the Indian community.”
Malde was born on Mombasa in Kenya into the Gujarati Oshwal community and came to London as a four-year-old in 1973. He made a name for himself after his colourful show garden at the 2017 Chelsea Flower Show attracted widespread attention.
Many Asians who have come to Britain from East Africa will share his sense of nostalgia. “My dad used to love growing roses in Kenya, but he also used to grow jasmine and then I remember, we used to grow things like ginger lilies and Heliconia. When we were living in Nyali, we had this enormous pot filled with Amaryllis. And the other thing that we used to grow were the large red Anthuriums, which are very common in Kenya. And, of course, the curry leaf plant was another thing in most households.”
As a designer, “I would love to see a garden that has been inspired, say, by the Kenyan tribes. I would love to see that essence of colour in the lovely beaded Masai
necklaces they wear. There is a way that we can introduce the patterning in the garden.
“There are countries, certainly in the Middle East, where they use old oil drums, where the paint has sort of peeled and faded, as containers for growing things.”
Malde added: “If you do that, then you start attracting people to come to the RHS gardens. The RHS has to now start looking at how it can also expand its membership as well.” ■ The RHS Festival of Flavours will be held at RHS Garden Bridgewater (Salford) and RHS Garden Hyde Hall (Chelmsford) from September 30 to October 2; at RHS Garden Rosemoor (Devon) on October 1-2; at RHS Garden Wisley (Guildford) from October 12-16; and at RHS Garden Harlow Carr (Harrogate) on October 22-23