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(L- R) Nicolas Palumbo -
Assistant F&B Manager TIME Oak Hotel & Suites, Frederik Mare - husband
of Laura Allais Mare Founder of SlowFood Dubai Convivium, Bernard Fantoli -
Corporate Director of Food & Beverages, TIME Hotels, Dr. Hamed Kazim Al
Bastaki from Al Bastaki & Associates (Organic compost used in the
garden), Chef Haytham El Sayed - Executive Chef TIME Oak Hotel &
Suites.
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TIME Hotels has launched the UAE’s first Urban Rooftop Garden to provide
better nutrition and health for the community and help
people connect with nature
Lemongrass, mint, Indian borage, oregano, basil,
cucumber, zucchini, capsicum, baby marrow, pineapple, bitter gourd, sweet
potatoes, garlic and pumpkin are among the vegetables and herbs being grown at the
UAE’s first ever urban rooftop garden in TECOM, Dubai.
The TIME Urban Garden project, located at TIME Oak Hotel
& Suites, is designed to educate people of all ages about the upkeep and
care of a living garden. The concept, inaugurated on 6 January 2016, is built
around the principles of the slow food movement, which champions “good, clean
and fair food” for consumers and producers thanks to high quality, natural and
fairy priced goods for all.
The Urban Garden grows organic, heirloom vegetables, herbs
and fruit from seed or stem propagation, without the use of chemicals and
industrially produced pesticides. All work is carried out by volunteers from
Slow Food Dubai, the first organisation of its kind in the GCC, aided by TIME Oak engineering, food and beverage staff and chefs. Indeed, the TIME
team was trained directly by the founder of Slow Food Dubai, Laura Allais.
The first harvest took place in
December 2015, producing a selection of herbs such as basil, oregano and lemongrass.
At present cucumber, zucchini flowers, bitter gourd, capsicum, cucumber, sweet
potatoes are being picked.
Slow food fans can taste the
harvest via TIME Oak Hotel & Suites’ Petals restaurant, which offers selected items on the buffet menu.
“Introducing the Urban Garden project to TIME Oak Hotel
& Suites allows us to provide high quality food with a flavourful taste
that is fairly priced and produced and transported in a responsible way,” said
Mohammad Awadalla, CEO, TIME Hotels Management.
“It is in line with our ethos of making space available that would otherwise be underutilised. Although there
is an initial investment form our side, the cost of implementing the rooftop
garden is far outweighed by the social and environmental benefits which will be
felt for years to come,” he added.
Now, with summer approaching, the
TIME team is busy installing sunshades to allow the soil to rest and prepare the
seedling house for the next season.
For more information, please visit www.timehotels.ae
