ORGANIC TOKOROA

I had this dream, after staying with Mum in New Zealand in a little town called Tokoroa halfway on a motorway between Auckland and Wellington, where the trucks stop. After scouring a supermarket for organic ingredients, and finding it devoid of inspiration and beautiful produce, I found this guy called Alan in a carpark selling organically grown vegetables directly from his farm. They were less expensive than the supermarket and completely fresh and luscious with life. The few people I knew in Tokoroa had absolutely no idea about this man and it took me a while to realise he was there. I wondered if it would be possible to create a platform to find the most beautiful artisanal produce, or the freshest organically as a bare minimum, biodynamic vegetables wherever you were in the world. Alan gave me his number and said I could meet him on Tuesdays also if I was ever running out of vegetables. The seed of the dream though, actually started many years before with my love of markets. I had a job one winter in the South of France, Sanuary sur Mer. On the weekends I would head for Aix en Provence, get up early on Saturday morning and wander down to the market in time to watch everyone set up their stalls, sitting on the edge of this in wonder sipping my espresso. Later I worked in a fresh produce shop in London for a few years, sourcing from artisan growers, regenerative, people preserving ancient farming techniques and began to learn the seasons and truly about the most stunning ingredients. It is the whole energy of the market place that captures my attention. The farmers who bring their produce directly, you can actually sense the vitality, the life! It makes you feel completely alive! And connected to the earth and the seasons.