Sustainable thinking fuels creativity – at least in the kitchen, according to Atrium Executive Chef Mark Gandara.
Gandara’s dedication to thoughtful cooking began early, during his time at NYC’s famed Union Square Cafe, where, as a young sous chef, he was encouraged to shop the farmer’s market for fresh ingredients and then create specials using those picks. So when Gandara moved to New York’s Hudson Valley he was thrilled at the prospect of getting his hands dirty in a new way – spending a year on a working farm learning the ins and outs of growing. Those two experiences continue to shape his cooking every day. “I respect what the farmers are doing. I know the work that goes into growing lettuce and tomatoes. They’re breaking their backs to get the food out of the ground, into a truck,” he says. “It’s on us [as chefs] to take care of the food.”
And that means going beyond what lands on the plate. Gandara has also long been focused on the issue of food waste, using his “leftovers” in new and unique ways rather than throwing them away. That could mean anything from using leftover produce in the staff family meal to finding new and unique ways to create a dish component out of what’s in the kitchen. “If we can’t use all of something, like fresh cherry tomatoes we can pickle them, preserve them, turn them into a jam… there are so many cooking methods,” he says. And far from a burden, Gandara says, the challenge of sustainability combined with a deep respect for the growing process only ignites his passion for cooking. “Having to think of what to do and how to recook something — ‘Can it be a soup, a stock?’ It pushes me as a chef to think outside the box. What can I do to turn this into something else?”
