Recently the chefs of restaurant The Kitchen in the Amsterdam branch of the De Bijenkorf can cook with home-grown herbs. Or in fact, with home reared herbs. The department store has, in a cabinet, an array of fresh herbs in wooden crates. "De Bijenkorf is much involved in sustainability and greening. So they also look into the living conditions of bees, and the preservation of green in and around the city," says Tessa Duste of GrowDownTown, the company that was brought in to develop a cultivation system for restaurant The Kitchen. "There they also wanted to work with fresh and local. In the new concept you walk between the herbs, you experience the freshness of the product and you see the chefs cook with them. This fits nicely into the story of De Bijenkorf, who want to make every visit an experience."
To integrate green in the city
GrowDowntown earlier developed cultivation systems for De Bijenkorf, for the green touch in the shops. The company develops concepts, projects and products that integrate green and vegetables in cities. That's exactly what happened at De Bijenkorf. The plants are in cabinets in the restaurant. In these cabinets, LED lamps from Parus are installed. "We work with red and white light. Blue is perhaps nicer for the plant, but it also has to be acceptable for the surroundings."
GrowDowntown also developed special cultivation boxes, which are hidden under authentic looking wooden crates. A water basin is worked into the boxes. "These basins need to be replenished once in a while, but basically they require very little work. We have learned that culture systems in unusual locations must be pretty idiot-proof. In these places there is little attention for water, light or the growing of vegetables and plants. All these factors are considered in the development of the concept."
Therefore the herbs are not grown in the restaurant. That is done in the social nursery Open Garden the Lindenhoff. "What is available in De Bijenkorf keeps on growing, but thanks to the system, remains especially fresh and beautiful. The herbs go from the cabinet to the counter of The Kitchen and from there the chefs will use them. If the herbs are used up, the containers are returned to the Open Garden and a new load of herbs is collected for the cabinets."
The wooden crates are made of old pallets by care farm De Stek. They are re-used for each delivery.