Food Curators: Off the Grid

Sometimes, stepping away from the usual routine gives you room to think differently.

It was a Friday when our Food Curation team left their desks behind and headed out on another adventure. Some were there on their day off; others had simply swapped their usual workday for something a little different.

Either way, they were together, outside the office and away from computers, spreadsheets, and meetings. For a few hours, none of that mattered. They were back in Eileen’s garden.

Back to the garden

Earlier in the year, the team had spent a day here, working the soil, planting seeds, and sitting together for lunch. Now they were back to see what had happened to all that hard work, walking between the plants and checking what was ready to harvest.

There was plenty to find. Corn, tomatillos, tomatoes, and beets were ready to be picked, while new seedlings were being planted for another round.

Instead of starting with a recipe or consulting the menu grid to decide what came next, the team started with what was actually growing in front of them: what had made it this far, what was ready now, and what they could turn it into.

From the garden to the fire

Once everything was harvested, lunch began to take shape. The corn went on the fire, the tomatillos were grilled for salsa, and the beets were roasted, while everyone pitched in with picking, prepping, cooking, and setting the table.

For Lennart, that combination of food and being together is exactly what made the day special.

“It’s really important to grow as a team and do things together. We’re all from the restaurant world, and the best way to share ideas is while eating.”

By the time everyone sat down around the table, the garden had become the kitchen, lunch had become the meeting point, and the whole team had something to talk about. Food, restaurants, ingredients, what was growing, what they were cooking at home. The kind of conversation that flows when there’s a plate in front of you and nowhere else you need to be.

At Join Program, we talk a lot about lunch as a moment to come together, share a meal, and connect. This time, the Food Curation team got to do exactly that.

It’s important to know what you’re eating, where the ideas come from and what the people behind the food are making

A day away from the grid

There was another reason the garden felt different. This place really is off the grid. There’s no electricity, no running water, and no shortcuts for the things we usually take for granted. If you want to cook, you light a fire. If you need water, you collect it. It changes how you work with what’s around you.

But being off the grid also meant being closer to the ingredients themselves. You could see what was growing, what was ready, and what the season was giving you that day.

For the Food Curation team, that can be a useful way to approach food. As Tamara put it, being in the garden can make you notice things you might otherwise miss.

“You see what’s actually in season, and that can give you ideas for what we can develop for summer or spring.”

She noticed it in ingredients that don’t always get the seasonal credit they deserve. Cauliflower can be a summer ingredient. Beets can be harvested in summer, too. Being in the garden makes those details harder to overlook.

And that is where a day like this becomes more than a day outside. It gives the team something real to look at, taste, talk about, and take into their work.

What we brought back

Besides new ideas and conversations, the team brought back three recipes that were too good not to share and that you can now make at home: a beetroot salad, a tomatillo salsa, and a tomato & burrata salad.

And because not everyone has a garden or a barbecue at home, Eileen has a tip for making the recipes work at home:

“No barbecue? Use the grill setting on your oven, an air fryer, or a grill pan. A grill pan is especially good for vegetables when you want those nice grill marks.”