By: Elizabeth Zhang
When you don’t know where food comes from, it’s just a commodity. -Rick Bayless
On Monday July 25th, Kong Yeah in collaboration with Slow Food HK, hosted an exclusive vegetarian farm-to-table dinner for our members and friends. A delicious three course menu of fresh seasonal produce was presented with ingredients nearly all sourced from within Hong Kong. Aside from the salt, sugar, sesame and flour, the dinner’s food mileage was an impressive 35 kilometres.
Hong Kong is notorious for importing 90% of its food supply and the market is generally dominated by large corporate chains and brands. However there is a growing movement amongst the local population in support of home-grown produce and manufacturers, whether that be vegetables from New Territory farms or soy sauce from a small scale producer in Kowloon.
Kong Yeah started their weekly dinners as a challenge to themselves when the founders posed the question, is it possible to curate a dinner using only locally sourced ingredients? Hong Kong certainly does not conjure up images in peoples’ minds of fields and farmers, but Kong Yeah is precisely trying to change this impression by sharing and promoting the diverse produce that is in fact available right on our doorstep. It was refreshing to see a menu that not only detailed every individual ingredient in the dishes but also listed the exact farm or shop it was sourced from.
Throughout the meal, we had a chance to learn more about Kong Yeah’s quest to promote a greener, more sustainable lifestyle and their desire to help build a vibrant community of consumers and producers within Hong Kong. By knowing your farmer, you know your food, so Kong Yeah’s aim is to simply better connect consumers with the food they eat and in turn help to return profits back to the local economy.
The experience certainly opened up everyone’s eyes to what is available in our own backyard and it should help each and one of us make a more conscious decision as consumers on our next trip to the shops or market. Seek out and support local where you can.
Kong Yeah hosts Green Monday dinners every week at 8104 Box of Life in Kwun Tong and features a bi-weekly changing menu, check here for the details.