In his pursuit for traditional values, chef Luke Farrell has created a 'living library' of his own. Ryewater Nursey in Dorset, the UK, is the labour of Farrell's love for all things Asian, especially ingredients. On his family's 40-hectare property, the chef-turned-farmer is growing Asian produce, which he supplies to top London restaurants. Using seeds and cuttings brought from his travels in Asia, Farrell is growing, in greenhouses, fresh organic herbs, spices and vegetables, pollinated by his father's tropical butterflies. Guru speaks to Farrell about his growing obsession with Asian ingredients.
Why the decision to become a farmer when the passion for cooking was so great?
Probably because I was really cooking to make these ingredients happen. I have a passion for Asian cuisine and trained as a chef in Singapore and Thailand. I was already growing these ingredients for my cooking and for David Thompson's Nahm in London. It becomes all-consuming once you've started growing ingredients, they start taking over and telling you what to cook. I am still very much a chef but the ingredients start dictating what you need to do. The freshness and quality of the ingredients matter more. These ingredients are grown in a greenhouse in the UK, which is very hard to do -- growing tropical Thai ingredients in a greenhouse in the UK. To use them properly becomes the most important thing. That is why I have more of an emphasises on growing and not cheffing. I did one of the first bahn mi restaurants in London, which lasted six months. After that I had enough and decided to grow ingredients and supply to London restaurants. I like to think that even the London restaurants don't know about a lot of these ingredients. They are still catching up with things being grown in Thailand. I can say 'This is grown two hours away from London, it's organic, is much fresher and has the same flavour'.
Why do you refer to Ryewater Nursery as a 'living library'?
We are trying to grow every single culinary Asian ingredient that we can and we want to be a place where a chef can come and look at our ingredients and be able to say 'I want this' and we will have it. That's the type of ingredients and cooking, a collection of cookbook-type of ingredients, all the weapons you have in this arsenal to make this amazing food. I have also become obsessed with the different herbs; you identify them, you're growing them from seed, you've researched them online, you know about all of them, you've gone up into Isan to forage them, you get a new respect for them. Especially herbs because they are so different from each other.
You're all about keeping produce and dishes 'authentic', how are you able to sustain that growing Asian herbs and vegetables in the UK?
The soil is incredibly important. But we have a special jungle mix that approximates the Thai soil. There is coconut fibre in it, there is coir, there's lots of leaf mould, it is a very rich jungle mix and it is what you would find in Thailand. Because we are organic, there is amazing microbe activity, fungal activity within the soil. It is pretty much similar to what you get in Thailand. We used to have water buffaloes in Dorset and use their dung in the greenhouses. Now we have Devon red cows, though they are not there for the dung. But it is an obsession on that level. It tastes better because these ingredients haven't been refrigerated an inch of their lives coming over from Thailand. A lot of things don't last at all coming over from Southeast Asia.
Just-picked is so important. The fleeting aroma that you get from them and, in Thai cuisine, is so delicate that you'd have better luck getting it from me that having it imported from Thailand. At the same time we are very seasonal. We cannot supply basil and things like that in the winter. So that is when Thailand will take over. It is only in the summer months that we can do fresh herbs.
How do you manage to supply to restaurants all-year-round if summer is your main season?
We only have a few restaurants we supply to and they are well aware of how seasonal our produce is and they change their menus accordingly. Green papaya, for example, is all year round and there's a lot of roots and leaves from roots like cardamom and galangal and a lot of chillies we can get into the winter. Kaffir limes you can get all year round. A lot of my plants I put to sleep during the winter as I don't like to hack at them. My season is in the UK in the summer and I'm in Asia in the winter. I have other business interests in China and Malaysia and Vietnam selling dry good and cooking ingredients, like hand-hammered woks, iron wood chopping boards and copper hot pots and pickle jars.
Does Ryewater Nursery specifically grow Southeast Asian produce or Asian?
We have a whole outdoor vegetable garden where we grow Western vegetables. We have a line of Chinese ingredients like bok choy, choy sum, all the mustard greens, stuff like that, as well. We also have a line of chillies, which we supply to a West African restaurant with a Japanese ethos behind the presentation and respect to ingredients. I like to be able to have those ingredients. I don't like substituting ingredients.
What are the growing challenges you face considering climate change?
Last year, during the very hot summer I was considering taking out the lid of my greenhouse and letting it all grow [laughs]. It would have been nice. With global warming, I don't have to have a greenhouse anymore. I can grow durians and coconuts and all sorts of things. We can extend our operations to bigger restaurants like Som Saa, they will clean out my papaya harvest in a week! If it is a limited season, then I extend who we supply to. The last thing I want to do is to let it go to waste. The basil, for example, they quickly flower and grow. If it is a mediocre summer, these herbs last a bit longer.
How did Ryewater Nursery initially begin?
I used to grow a bit of chilli and herbs in my greenhouse. My dad is a butterfly man and I use to grow them in his greenhouse. My dad had a meal at Nahm in London and took David Thompson a box of my produce and then David said he wanted more. That is how it began and then became all consuming. To complete the range, so to speak. I wanted to have the entire range of produces and varieties so I could supply the restaurants. I also sell to Sri Lankan restaurants since there is a lot of crossover with the ingredients.
What's next for Ryewater Nursery and you?
The next step is moving towards medicinal herbs. In Asian cuisine you're eating things less for their flavour but more for what they can do for you. There are the roots and barks and these incredibly powerful ingredients, especially so in Chinese and ayurvedic medicines. A lot of those things will grow a lot better because they are a lot stronger and are formidable plants. Then it really will be a living library. You will be able to feed yourself and cure yourself.
I am also looking into consultancy work with restaurants that are ingredient-driven. I also have plans to open a nursery-to table restaurant, something like a Thai house along a khlong, something very rustic connected to the kitchen, which is connected to the greenhouse. Here I would do the freshest stuff, like a lunch bowl, a table of 12, as I still very much like to cook. I'd like to be able to share this with other people.
