Jean-Luc Brendel, chef, & Marie Bihl, market gardener, in the kitchen garden of La Table du Gourmet

Chef Jean-Luc Brendel invites us into his vegetable garden when we sit down at his Table du Gourmet (4 G&M toques) and discover a cuisine of great sensitivity which, if served by a young chef and outside such a touristy village, would be much more talked about.

It's been 40 years since Jean-Luc Brendel set up shop in Riquewihr, an Alsatian village so picturesque you'd think it was a film set. Forty years in this restaurant, a former winery with ancestral beams, but whose interior has been entirely painted red (how daring!). Forty years, including a good twenty spent cultivating an extraordinary garden located just a few minutes away, under the watchful eye of market gardener Marie Bihl, where he spends long hours every week.This nourishing garden, organized into 4 sections dedicated to different types of crops, has over time transformed the chef's cuisine, giving it its identity and raison d'être.

When did you start cultivating this garden?

Jean-Luc Brendel: This 75-acre garden, originally four vineyard plots, is on the edge of the Schoenenbourg, at the start of Riquewihr's famous emblematic hill that makes extraordinary wines. The first, the landscaped garden, I created a good thirty years ago. Then came the medieval garden. Then, 9 years ago, we added a plot, a very large vineyard of almost 20 ares. It's very complicated to buy vines. Especially when you're buying them to uproot them! I was called crazy. That's when we turned professional and set up a market-gardening company. We made major investments, creating buildings and a greenhouse. I surrounded myself with professionals from the world of biodynamics and permaculture, people who were very knowledgeable in the field and who supported me and showed me the way.

Was it your intention to achieve self-sufficiency?

J.L.B . : That was essential. I was already producing in the medieval garden. But like everyone else, only for a few months in the summer, with herbs and a few vegetables for garnish. And indeed, I wanted to be self-sufficient. We are now 98% self-sufficient, six months of the year and 80% the rest. Thanks to the large greenhouse, we produce 10 months out of 12, since we're closed for six weeks in winter. I now need to invest in a nursery, as we do a lot of seedlings and the greenhouse is no longer enough.

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What attracted you to the project here?

Marie Bihl : First of all, the way we work. Previously, I worked in a more conventional market garden. Organic, but on a larger scale. Here, we're working on very small surfaces, and our working methods are very different from those of large, hyper-mechanized surfaces. The objective is clear: to produce the best vegetables possible. Jean-Luc knows what he wants and talks about it very well. As a result, we understand each other pretty quickly, and we're all working in the same direction.

Do you have any training?

M.B.: No, not really, I learned on the job... But these days, we have resources, the means to find out and document ourselves.

J.L.B.: I learned on the job too! But it has to be said that we're also at the cutting edge of technology. By satellite, we can get a real-time picture of the exact state of thirst of the plants. With our telephone, we can manage a 3.5 km irrigation network with 600 drip valves.

MathieuCellard

What makes a good vegetable?

M.B. I think it's a well-balanced soil. I'm not an engineer in this field, but I'm out in the field, and when you have really good soil, some things take care of themselves, because you have the organisms, fungi and bacteria you need to fight diseases and parasites...

J.L.B. : When I took possession of the land, it was far from perfect from a sanitary point of view. There were some positive things because the vines were already organic, but that wasn't enough. We had to compensate for certain parts of the soil by bringing in a little organic matter, putting in green manure... for about a year and a half before starting actual production. We recently carried out a very thorough analysis to see where we stand after nine years, and we realize that we've made an extraordinary leap in soil quality. We're blown away by the results we've achieved. It's really impressive.

Do you also work on plant synergy?

M.B.: I like to combine short-cycle vegetables with long-cycle ones. For example, with celery, it's going to take some time, so there's empty space at the start, so I put lettuces in when it's small, and after harvest, the fennel can spread out. It fills in and avoids the need for mulching to prevent weeds.

J.L.B. : We draw a lot of our inspiration from Mexican techniques, as they have a very hot sun, so they need extra protection. We grow crops on three levels. So, for every six beds, there's one with a fruit tree to provide shade. On the second level, we put berries and redcurrants and raspberries, and on the third level, strawberries as ground cover. This makes them more resistant to hot weather.

Last year was quite catastrophic for market gardening in general, with a lot of things being burnt by the sun. But here, with our advanced mulching system, we've had the best year we've ever had.

MathieuCellard

How has this garden shaped your identity as a chef?

J.L.B. : About ten years ago, I realized that I had incredible quantities of vegetables. I was overwhelmed. I had to completely relearn the art of cooking. When we optimized all the surfaces, I asked myself how I could use all that? I realized that if I wanted my kitchen to stand out, vegetables had to become the centerpiece. For example, if I make a carrot, it has to be emblematic, it has to be the star element of the dish, with counterpoints in flavors, acids or bitters, counterpoints in textures that are well asserted. I've completely changed my cooking gear, my way of seeing, doing and working. The covid period, during which I spent almost two years immersed in the garden, was the final piece, the catalyst that made me change dimension again. I matured enough to really become aware of all this potential. It's not the garden that adapts to my kitchen, it's my kitchen that adapts to the garden.