Farm to table initiatives blooming in Qatar

euronews (in English)

Qatar 365 invites you to taste initiatives with a farm to table flavour, pushing individuals towards more sustainable practices

Transcript

00:00It's not common to see in a city hotel where heads of state, presidents, prime ministers,

00:08royalties, they come and stay in the hotel, to see in their garden where you have kids

00:12playing with the goat.

00:13Hadika means garden in Arabic.

00:15And our goal is to add gardening and promote sustainable living to everyone in the Gulf.

00:23Hello and welcome to Qatar 365 with me, Adel Halim.

00:27On this episode, we go digging for some initiatives hoping to plant the seed of nurture and nature

00:31in children and we meet the man who built Qatar's leading food delivery app.

00:36But first, we're at the award-winning Ritz Carlton Doha where Laila Humaira looks at

00:41how the hotel built a city garden while also satisfying a growing appetite for farm-to-table

00:46dining experiences.

00:48Goats, ducks, geese and turkey.

00:54It's not what you usually find in the middle of a city, let alone a five-star luxury hotel.

01:01But here at the award-winning Ritz Carlton Doha, a team led by general manager Carlo

01:06Giavacchia is redefining luxurious city escapes and the concept of farm stay by combining

01:13the best of both worlds.

01:16It's not common to see in a city hotel where heads of state, presidents, prime ministers,

01:21royalties, they come and stay in the hotel to see in their garden where you have kids

01:26playing with the goats.

01:27Today, the farm is doing so well that some of the animals, like the goats and turkey,

01:33have given birth to offspring and laid eggs.

01:37They live here all year round and for all 365 days are taken care of by a professional

01:43team of horticulturalists and veterinarians.

01:48Another part of the hotel's farming initiative is the Herbs and Vegetables Garden, which

01:53aims to plant a seed of interest in gardening in the young.

01:57First of all, welcome to the Ritz Kids Garden.

02:00Here you can see we have beautiful papaya trees.

02:04Actually, let me cut one for you.

02:08From papaya to mint to asparagus and even local herbs like za'atar, the garden was built

02:15from scratch using repurposed materials.

02:19We have beautiful herbs.

02:20We're growing them by ourselves.

02:21The material we have chosen and selected, we used old furniture, tabletops.

02:28So tabletops, we make those beautiful herb bins.

02:31The garden offers a variety of fruits, herbs and vegetables that not only stimulate the

02:37senses and spark curiosity in the minds of visitors, but also provides the freshest ingredients

02:43for the culinary team.

02:45It's another step in the hotel's commitment to serve more homegrown produce to the plates

02:50of its guests and hopefully leave them wanting more.

02:56Farmer's Brunch definitely is not something new as a concept, but how it is executed here

03:00and how it is kept authentic.

03:03Many kids, they don't know how the fresh basil looks like or how the oregano looks like,

03:08how many other ingredients look like.

03:10So they can pick the cherry tomatoes, they can pick the fresh herbs.

03:14The hot summer months of Qatar haven't stopped the healthy yields from the garden.

03:19And Carlos says it's all in the farming technique.

03:23Everyone's perception is that because of the weather in the summer in Qatar that you can't

03:27have any vegetables or herbs in the garden, but that's not the case.

03:31You just need to know how to cultivate the soil, what kind of plants to use, how to preserve

03:37that, what kind of environment to create for that.

03:40And from the reception the hotel has gotten so far, it's made everyone hungry for more,

03:46which is a request Carlos and his team are happy to satisfy.

03:50I already see that there is a demand from our clientele to enlarge our farm and we will

03:56be doubling its size and we will be doubling the species.

03:59The good thing with our resort is we have a massive land and the sky's the limit.

04:06As far as we have an appetite to create things and experiences for our guests, we can do a lot.

04:15That idea of farm to table places a high value on putting local first.

04:19The same can be said for Sununu, one of Qatar's leading food delivery services.

04:24I recently got a chance to sit down with founder and CEO Hamid Alhajri to find out how Sununu

04:28has emerged as Qatar's fastest growing tech startup.

04:32Hamid, you stated your goal is to become Qatar's first unicorn, which is a startup with a valuation

04:37of a billion dollars.

04:38How close are you?

04:39When it comes to distance, we are like 70% far, so we are about $300 billion at this

04:46stage.

04:47But the aim is not the money.

04:48Unicorn is just one of the aspirations.

04:50It's about how we can change people's life in the Middle East to be faster and better

04:56by using the technology we have.

04:58Speaking of changing people's lives, in 2017, you were living a life many people dream of.

05:03You had a comfortable life, you had a stable job at Qatar Energy, but then you walked away

05:07from it all to start your own startup.

05:09What gave you the confidence to do so?

05:11Yes, so basically you as a human, you have two direction in your life, or two paths.

05:17And to define these two paths, you need to think, what if I became 70 years old and look

05:23backward?

05:25How do I look like to that life I spent?

05:27Is it something I will be proud of, something that will be historical, or just an ordinary

05:34personal life?

05:35So basically, yes, I was comfortable life, but it was ordinary life like everyone here

05:41in Qatar.

05:42It's not the path of the champion.

05:44It's the path to be ordinary and live your life, enjoy your life, and that's it.

05:49This is not me.

05:50I want to build something.

05:51But with great challenge, you're going to gain more muscle and growth, and you'll be

05:56stronger through the time.

05:58But at the end of the tunnel, there is light.

06:00When you reach that light, your character will be changed from a normal person to be

06:05a champion.

06:06So what were some of the challenges you faced on the road to becoming Qatar's first one-stop

06:11e-commerce mobile app?

06:13So I started with a mobile app.

06:15I was very excited about it.

06:17Yeah, I think the biggest challenge was the fundraising, because here in Qatar, people

06:22believe in real estate, manufacturing, hotels.

06:27Technology is not something from our area.

06:31My last question is my toughest question.

06:33With the world's cuisine at your fingertips, what's your go-to food order on Sununu?

06:38Yeah, that is actually, you'll laugh if I tell you.

06:44My best order, always, from one small restaurant, cooking Qatari dishes, but fishes.

06:51So here in Qatar, we love fish, especially on Friday.

06:54I recommend you to try it.

06:56It's called...

07:00...Al-Burnoush.

07:01So that's the restaurant name.

07:03And basically, it has very nice safi fish with the muhammar.

07:09Muhammar is basically mixed between rice and sugar, because before, you know, when people

07:16go for the pear, they need to mix the sugar with the rice to survive, you know, this hunger

07:22in the middle of the sea.

07:24So that is actually my favorite food.

07:26I like to order...

07:27My last order was two days ago.

07:29So yeah, no one knows this order, but I know it's very good.

07:35Now it's time to get our hands a little dirty.

07:37I've come to the Education City Micro Farm, where the folks here hope for a day where

07:41every home in the Middle East has its own sustainable garden.

07:45To help inspire, the Little Gardeners Academy uses interactive activities to help children

07:50grow a love for nature at an early age.

07:54Let's go pick some.

07:56What's that?

07:58That's the birdhouse.

08:00The birdhouse? You were just looking at it.

08:02Yeah.

08:03You want to smell it?

08:04Yes.

08:06Guess what?

08:07Jama regularly brings her kids to the Hadika Micro Farm in Education City.

08:12Here, they attend the Little Gardeners Academy.

08:15She says it's important to give her kids experiences she didn't have in London.

08:20Growing up a city kid myself, I sort of craved having the outdoor space for my kids.

08:27And my daughter's on the spectrum, so she had a real aversion, like, to anything, soil.

08:33I had the 101 Dalmatians.

08:36That's on Thursday.

08:38Yeah, she's been there.

08:39Miss Vera likes mine.

08:41We're talking about gardening now.

08:43So when we first started coming, she really had a problem with just being in the space entirely.

08:48So I, instead of giving up, I was like, no, I'm going to help get her through this,

08:55slowly, slowly, and now we're here all the time.

08:58I didn't want them to be in front of a screen.

09:00It's not conducive to my daughter's diagnosis as well.

09:04So just trying to find things that are outside of the home has been perfect.

09:09And getting them...

09:10And you'd be amazed at the amount of skills that they picked up.

09:14Like, my son regularly helps me with saving seeds,

09:17and it's like fine motor skills that you...

09:19There's things about it that you didn't even think about or imagine, and it's amazing.

09:24The seasonal Little Gardeners Academy is the brainchild of agricultural engineer Vicky Dalmaloo,

09:30who co-founded Hadika in 2020.

09:33Hadika means garden in Arabic, and our goal is to add gardening

09:37and promote sustainable living to everyone in the Gulf.

09:41Vicky and her co-founder wanted to make gardening fun for kids.

09:45They believe more hands-on exposure to nature will take away their fear of insects

09:50and getting their hands dirty.

09:53So, one thing I really enjoy is the beauty that I see around me, the transformation of a space.

09:58If we see photos from the space, when we first came here, it was like desert, basically.

10:03And then with the effort of the community, it has transformed a lot.

10:07Also, I enjoy the calmness it brings.

10:09We develop patience, of course, because we have to wait.

10:12It gives you a sense of relaxation in the rushed daily life.

10:17What began as a Facebook group in 2017 to help gardeners share best practices

10:21for the region's harsh climate has blossomed into this academic greenhouse.

10:25The Little Gardeners Academy gives budding green thumbs hands-on experience

10:29in hopes of nurturing a love for nature.

10:32Children as young as three years old can try their hand at gardening,

10:36while learning valuable life lessons along the way.

10:39Eight-year-old Lucia explains why she looks forward to dropping by the academy.

10:44I've learned that some insects that people don't like are very useful,

10:51like a moth, because a moth pollinates flowers, and that helps them grow.

11:01Organizers hope all gardeners, big and small,

11:04will put the lessons they learn at the Little Gardeners Academy into practice.

11:08So, we have a lot of people who are interested in gardening,

11:13so the most important thing is to educate people.

11:17If the adults learn, of course they can do it,

11:20but if we educate the younger generation, then we can keep it for a longer period,

11:25and then this will pass on to the later generations.

11:29They will all know how to actually care for their plants and live in a greener environment.

11:34From five-star hotels to Little Gardeners,

11:37farm-to-table was a common theme on this episode.

11:40We hope you enjoyed this peek beneath the surface,

11:43but that's all the time we have for now.

11:45For more, check out euronews.com and connect with us through a hashtag.

11:48Thanks for watching, and we'll see you next time on Qatar 365.

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