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The Producers series highlights the incredible work done by those responsible for the food and drink that ends up on our tables, whether it's at home or in the world's finest restaurants. While chefs get most of the accolades, it is often the producers who remain unsung heroes of our food system. Here we shine a spotlight upon them and their produce.
Großmugl, Austria. “A lot of chefs say the product is the star, but I think the guy behind the product is the real star, the guy working the fields all winter and summer-long,” says Paul Ivic, the chef behind Tian in Vienna. Back in 2014, it became the very first European vegetarian restaurant to be awarded a Michelin star.
Ivic’s guy is Robert Brodnjak who, alongside his wife, Claudia Detz, runs Krautwerk farm, which focuses on forgotten Austrian heirloom vegetables and different varieties of the same crop.
It’s blissfully calm and idyllic in Großmugl, a small village 40 minutes drive north of Vienna, where back in 2012, Brodnjak, a former cook, set up his 1.5 hectare farm. At first, they still used the tractor, but in 2018 they switched completely to organic ‘market gardening’, which means that their vegetables grow on permanent beds. They also produce their own ‘green’ manure, and all the work, including tilling and weeding, is done manually - only hand-tools are involved, like broad forks that gently aerate the soil, helping crops establish deeper root systems. “Your focus always has to be healthy soil. If your soil is not healthy, you won't have healthy vegetables, therefore less taste,” explains Brodnjak.
One of Krautwerk’s main focuses is long-lost vegetables. “In Austria, we have some really great forgotten varieties. In 2020, we grew about six different types of celery, most of them old Austrian varieties. Marrow stem cabbage, filder cabbage, broccoli Rosalind, ’Wiener Riese’ celeriac… There are also some great lettuce varieties, which taste amazing, like Forellenschluss or Kagraner Sommer,” says Brodnjak. The reason why these varieties were forgotten is usually because of the low yield. “Over the years, farmers had to get as much yield as possible because they got paid so little for the crops,” he explains.
Photo courtesy of Krautwerk
At Krautwerk, it’s all about varieties. “From the very beginning, it was important for us to grow a large variety of vegetables. Over the last few years, we’ve always grown about 60 different kinds of vegetables, and up to 300 varieties in total per year,” says Brodnjak, who describes himself as a “variety junkie”. Beets from golden to red, 60 types of tomatoes, more than a dozen types of peas… The list goes on and on. He hands me over two different kinds of carrot. “Try this one first. Now this one. Can you taste the huge difference between them?”
It was the 13 types of peas that he was growing at the time that earned him a call from Heinz Reitbauer, arguably Austria's best chef, and the creative mind behind the country's only 50 Best restaurant, Steirereck. Soon, others followed, and now Brodnjak is supplying some of Vienna’s most established restaurants.
“Every year we pick another vegetable to plant as many different varieties as possible. Carrots, peas, tomatoes, celeriac... And every time we watch them grow you can see massive differences in size, quality, taste and yield. Then we harvest the different varieties separately and taste them with the chefs together to find the perfect variety for us,” explains Brodnjak.
Photo courtesy of Krautwerk
More and more chefs have started to work much more closely with producers, seeking out the produce before actually creating a dish. For Brodnjak, the increase has been noticeable. “Because of the pandemic, a lot of chefs had problems with their vegetable supplier from abroad. They realised how important it is to know their farmer, because of our ‘crisis-proof-ness’ and the freshness of the vegetables we can supply.”
“We work very closely with the chefs. With most of them we make a plan at the beginning of the year with their wishes of varieties, quantity and size of the vegetables. It's also very important for me to do the deliveries to the restaurants by myself, to stay in close contact with the chefs and see how they process our vegetables.”
Paul Ivic has been working with Brodnjak and Detz for eight years, and over that time the communication has become more intensive. They also set aside a small experimental field where they grow forgotten and unknown varieties just for Tian. Times have changed since the restaurant opened, and nowadays plant-based restaurants are the hot new trend - top chefs are dropping foie gras and filet mignons from their menus, replacing them with charred leeks, beetroot carpaccios and mushroom garums.
Ivic welcomes the shift towards using more vegetables and believes Tian’s success played a part in his colleagues giving up their fear of cooking with plants. “That’s great, because plant-based cuisine is a wonderful option and, above all, a necessity.”
Paul Ivic's food at Tian, photo courtesy of Paul Ivic
For Brodnjak, having worked as chef opens a whole new perspective when it comes to growing vegetables. “Through my experience as a cook, I know what the chefs need. I know how important quality, size and harvest time can be. And I love seeking out unknown vegetables on the internet or when I travel to offer the chefs something new.”
“Varieties from other countries are interesting for me because we don't know most of them in Austria, and I want to try how they grow in our land and see how the taste is. I've always been a little bit of a variety junkie, that's why I can't go past a market when I’m abroad without taking some seeds with me,” he laughs.
The feedback has been great, and the pool of customers has increased. “At first people tend to think our products are too expensive. But once they try, they see how fresh everything is and how long it lasts. No supermarket vegetables can offer this quality. Plus, people nowadays love to know their farmer in person. That's why it's so important for us to go to the market every Saturday by ourselves, because the customers know us by name and buy their vegetables from Robert and Claudia, and not from any big brand.”
Consumer perceptions have, no doubt, changed a lot when it comes to produce - namely, vegetables and their incorporation in fine-dining and tasting menus. Back in 2011, when Ivic first approached his investors with the idea of creating a vegetarian restaurant, there was not a lot of enthusiasm or faith for his project. “The first three years were very difficult,”says Ivic. “Fortunately, we had the support of our owner. Without his conviction and our willingness to do everything to succeed, we would certainly have had to close the restaurant. The guests were not willing to spend money for quality and especially not for a vegetarian cuisine.”
Paul Ivic's food at Tian, photo courtesy of Paul Ivic
“At that time, the perception was that a vegan or vegetarian menu could not be an experience or a dinner worth having. We still have to deal with these prejudices. But there is a lot of craft in our work and it’s very time consuming. We also value our suppliers and their work very highly and buy from small producers,” explains Ivic, whose philosophy when it comes to creating dishes is to put the product centre-stage, using just salt, herbs and vegetable garums for seasoning.
“My job is to lift up the flavour, not change it.” Some of Tian’s dishes using Krautwerk vegetables include peas with marigold salt, all parts of kohlrabi with radish and celtuce (stem lettuce) with grilled turnip.
In the end, the biggest pushback when it comes to plant-based menus is the price, and some consumers are still skeptical as to whether vegetables can adequately replace protein and that umami flavour meat or seafood can provide. Brodnjak strongly disagrees with that notion. “I know how much work it takes to create a high-quality vegetable menu. That's why it must cost as much as the meat-based menu - or even more.”
Forgotten heirloom vegetables
- Forellenschluss - it's the best Romaine lettuce you can get. The taste is amazing, and it looks beautiful as well.
- Wiener Riesen - Celeriac with a very long shelf life, resistant to Septoria and tastes good as well.
- Kagraner Sommer – a type of lettuce, which is great for summer because it can handle the warm temperatures better.
- Roter laaer, gelber laaer, schoderleer - some onion varieties from lower Austria.
- Markstammkohl (Marrow stem cabbage) - very interesting texture, very different taste (raw like floral kohlrabi, roasted like heavy cabbage, but still floral).
- Teltower Rübchen (Teltow turnips): very spicy and sweet (Goethe raved about it).
- Filderkraut (Filder cabbage) - much more intense (sweeter and spicier) than commercial pointed cabbage.
- Broccoli Rosalind - purple broccoli that is much fuller and sweeter in flavour and usually also grows small with loose broccoli tops.
- Kohlrabi Superschmelz - very large kohlrabi that ripens late in the year (almost winter), does not become woody and has a much deeper flavour than commercial kohlrabi.
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