This spring, Shangri-La celebrates Earth Day with an enhanced ‘Rooted in Nature’ programme championing sustainable culinary initiatives across the Middle East, Europe, India, the Indian Ocean and North America. Launching this Earth Day on 22nd April 2022, an array of new gastronomic journeys will be added and continue indefinitely across the group’s MEIA region, ensuring that every day is Earth Day at Shangri-La.
To mark the occasion, new culinary dishes will be introduced across Shangri-La hotels in the region, highlighting the importance of sustainable dining through ethically sourced ingredients found on the menus year-round. In addition to raising environmental awareness, the campaign celebrates Shangri-La chefs and hotel teams who source the best possible ingredients with the upmost respect for nature. Dishes on offer will include produce and herbs grown on hotel grounds, locally-sourced organic fruits and vegetables, line-caught fish, free range beef, as well as honey from Shangri-La Toronto’s own rooftop beehive. Rooted in Nature, which recognizes the exciting differences in the group’s locations, is a gastronomic initiative presenting diners with locally or ethically sourced food offerings. The campaign encourages culinary teams across the hotels and resorts to incorporate sustainable items from local markets into the menus, ensuring authentic flavour with every bite. Guests can identify Rooted in Nature menu items by spotting the pea shoot logo beside the dish description on all restaurant menus.
Epicureans who love to travel for food can rest assured that with Rooted in Nature, the cuisine will not only be of exceptional quality but ethically sourced and lovingly created. From world renowned Michelin starred Chinese cuisine at the Shang Palace in Paris to sky-high dining in London, and from floating breakfasts in Dubai to Shangri-La insiders’ favourite local markets, Rooted in Nature assures guests dine in peace; safe in the knowledge that dishes must meet one or more of the five guidelines set out by the group:
- support local agricultural and fishing communities
- buy chemical & pesticide-free local produce
- source from free-range livestock and poultry products where possible
- acquire sustainably-sourced seafood that are caught through ethical means
- serve organic and fair trade products indicated by national and local food safety standards
Shangri-La Dubai offers quality Cantonese cuisine at Shang Palace with braised local seabream sourced from Dubai Khor Fakkan. Continuing their Asian culinary journey, the hotel’s renowned Vietnamese restaurant Hoi An, offers Bò Kho Kiểu Sài Gòn with Saigon-style Braised Australian Beef Cheek, Onion Pearl and Carrot. With sweeping views over the city, IKandy, offers an array of sustainably sourced pool side delights including Free-range Chicken, Citrus-Cured Fennel, Local Dates, Herb-crusted sous-vide cooked chicken, frisée and lollo salad, topped with date oil to give guests a true taste of local Dubai life.
On the island of Mauritius, the wonders of nature abound at Shangri-La Le Touessrok with an array of restaurants offering local favourites such as freshly caught Catch of the Day sourced especially by Mauritian’s finest fishermen, locally grown Orange Roma Tomato Carpaccio and Arugula all served at Republic Beach Club Restaurant; sustainable aquaculture King Fish served at Kushi, the resort’s specialized Japanese restaurant manned by a master sushi chef; and the Kuchumbar Salad with all locally sourced spices at the resort’s much loved Indian restaurant, Safran.
In one of the gastronomic capitals of the world, Shangri-La Paris takes inspiration from across France to source the finest ingredients. Chefs at La Bauhinia source locally grown Provencal asparagus to give the true taste of the south, along with free range marinated Black-angus steak. The hotel’s afternoon tea consists of organic pastries with locally produced flour and free-range eggs. Celebrating its tenth year as the only Michelin starred Chinese restaurant in France, Shang Palace offers wok-fried Normand Beef Fillet combining Cantonese flavour with locally grown French produce.
With one third of the earth’s food production in need of pollination, bees are crucial to the environment and food sustainability. With this in mind, Shangri-La Toronto created the B-Wall in partnership with Birks, Canada’s leading jeweler, and Alvéole, a Montreal-based organization that promotes and assists with beehive installation, maintenance and honey extraction. With roughly 50,000 bees, the hive produces approximately 20 kilos of honey each year. The harvested honey is used in the hotel’s culinary creations including a seasonal B-Wall Afternoon Tea and custom cocktails. The hotel took this raw, unpasteurized, hyperlocal ingredient one step further and partnered with Flying Monkeys Craft Brewery to brew their own B-Wall Honey Lager; offered in newly designed 437-milliliter cans, where guests can enjoy the canned lager as an in-room amenity, as well as on draft in the comfort of the Lobby Lounge. To make a reservation at Shangri-La restaurants and to experience Rooted in Nature first hand please visit https://www.shangri-la.com/. Further information on Rooted in Nature can be found by following the initiative via social media channels using the hashtag #myshangrila.
