Farm to Fork: How a new project will help tourists eat their way around Jordan
The country is hoping to welcome its first crop of culinary tourists this year, and introduce them to local food, farmers and chefs, says Rebecca Holland from The National.
Foraging for mushrooms in the brush near Umm Qais, fishing for tuna in Aqaba, visiting grape farms with volcanic soil in the fertile Mountain Heights Plateau, enjoying a fine-dining menu of locally sourced ingredients in Fakhreldin, one of Amman’s most famous restaurants. These are only a few activities that will make up Farm to Fork Jordan’s culinary-focused travel itineraries.
Concept founder Nico Dingemans hopes to draw conscientious travellers and food lovers from around the world to the country through the new tourism strategy, which will take in the guided tours mentioned above.
“You can learn so much about a country through food,” Dingemans says. “When you visit Italy or China this is normal, but not in Jordan.”
Dingemans says the country primarily banks on people visiting Petra, the Dead Sea or Wadi Rum. Each is absolutely worth seeing, he says, but visitors don’t get the chance to learn about Jordan’s culinary heritage, which is where the Farm to Fork project comes in.
[…]
Culinary tours
Farm to Fork’s guided tours will take visitors across the country, from the mountains to the sea, and include trips to date and olive farms, walks to forage for herbs and mushrooms, diving for tuna and meals at the restaurants featured in the book, all while learning about the histories of the ingredients and current innovations.
“We’re looking at Jordan through the lens of food,” Dingemans says. Again, this is not a novel idea, but one he feels hasn’t been tested in the Middle East in the same way it has elsewhere. He cites the example of truffle-hunting in Italy, which he says has become something of a phenomenon. “You have tourism, TV shows, articles … truffles are on the menu at every restaurant, there are tours. People know if they go during a certain period, they can buy truffles, do a cooking class with a nonna ... There’s a whole campaign around it.”
Dingemans thinks olive oil and dates can be Jordan’s truffles. Its expanse of olive trees aside, Jordan has about 500,000 medjool date palms and plans to expand to a million over the next decade. […].
Dingemans has begun conducting tours at Al Maida olive oil farm, and Farm to Fork’s book and tours will also weave a narrative around dates, drawing in their history as a Bedouin staple, their health benefits, why they’re eaten for the slow release of nutrients and sugar during Ramadan, and how modern restaurants are elevating them.
“Tourists get to meet people off the beaten track, those they wouldn’t normally seek out,” he says.
The future is local
The end game is to get visitors excited about Jordanian cuisine and to get chefs interested in cooking with local ingredients. “If you’re going to boost a country’s culinary tourism, the goal is to have more local sustainable agricultural products end up on the plate of Jordanian hotels and restaurants, to help farmers more,” he says. “Hotel owners should promote that and increase the percentage of products they buy from these farms. If everyone does that, we’re talking big numbers.”
Dingemans says this attracts guests, too. “Then you can say: ‘Oh, Marriott has a sustainability programme’ – and it will draw visitors.”
This, he feels, is mandatory. Worldwide, a younger generation of travellers is interested in socially responsible, sustainable travel. The European Commission released a Farm to Fork strategy as part of its European Green Deal, which requires 20 per cent of farmers within the region to be certified organic by 2030. That’s millions of farmers whose food ends up in supermarkets.
Dingemans says the teenagers of today will become adults in a world where sustainable food is a minimum expectation. “They’ll take that expectation to any tourism destination they visit, so if you’re not prepared, you’ve got a problem,” he says.
Tourism makes up about 16 per cent of Jordan’s GDP, so it’s important that the country keeps up with trends, and attracts a new generation of discerning, conscious, adventurous travellers, those who are more willing to delve into a place and spend money within local communities.
“People like to do something good with their tourism dollars,” he says. “This gives them a way to do that while showcasing Jordan’s culinary strength.”
Farm to Fork Jordan will be available on Amazon, in bookshops and museums, and at the hotels and restaurants featured in it. It will also be available in the Gulf states, and Dingemans hopes it will inspire people to visit Jordan and take a soon-to-be-launched Farm to Fork tour once it’s safe to travel again.
This is an excerpt from an article originally written by Rebecca Holland and published by The National. Learn more about Nico’s project on Health Cuisine’s website.
