{"id":20637,"date":"2022-02-21T16:37:39","date_gmt":"2022-02-21T15:37:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/non-categorise\/essential-garden\/"},"modified":"2022-02-21T16:37:39","modified_gmt":"2022-02-21T15:37:39","slug":"essential-garden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/portrait\/essential-garden\/","title":{"rendered":"Essential garden"},"content":{"rendered":"
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On a sunny day, following Rapha\u00ebl G\u00e9taz by car along the winding road leading to his vegetable garden is a gift of life. Set amidst the vineyards of Aubonne, overlooking Lake Geneva, this young farmer’s kingdom is a haven of peace that exudes enchanting vibratory energies.   After a brief stopover in his New York loft-like culinary space on the edge of a railway line, close to a Swedish furniture center, it’s in the heart of his vegetable garden that we find this trained chef, who has swapped culinary knowledge of the stove for cultivation of the earth. A change dictated more by heart than reason. Meet the man who whispers in the ear of vegetables. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Eva Rogenstein<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Essential oils<\/h2>\n

In 2017, Raphael G\u00e9taz took over a plot of just over one hectare. Apart from the vegetation and a few cows, everything had to be done. From the outset, he took a biodynamic approach, without seeking a label. “We have been officially labelled organic and demeter since last year. This administrative reference is not an obligation, but it reassures everyone. In order to approach the world with a new vision of energetic agriculture, Rapha\u00ebl is passionate about Chinese medicine, and is currently undergoing training to understand its principles. Based on this ancestral medical wisdom, he selects essential oils to use on his plants and the soil. “It brings a more sensitive side to our farming approach. Why not pamper the earth in the same way as a human being? In terms of taste, the results are edifying. <\/p>\n

Rice pilaf with lemon, made by his Brazilian-born mother, remains the Madeleine de Proust of the young Rapha\u00ebl. Undisciplined during his school years, he was nevertheless an excellent student. Passionate about cooking from an early age, he knew that he would evolve in one way or another in the world of toques, knives and products. With his “maturit\u00e9 f\u00e9d\u00e9rale” in his pocket, he turned to the Institut Paul Bocuse in Lyon to learn the profession of chef. “It was always an obvious choice, and even in the middle of the fields, I always kept to it. However, I always had a penchant for vegetables<\/x>“. Three years later, he landed a position at L’Arp\u00e8ge with the one and only Alain Passard, the three-starred vegetable maestro. Beet sushi seasoned with geranium oil was a revelation for the young apprentice. “<\/x>I was fascinated by the purity of taste and the way his vegetables were cooked. I knew I was in the right place at the right time, and that I was going to imbibe exceptional knowledge”. <\/p>\n

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Samantha Linder<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Between mountain and earth<\/h2>\n

The intense, frenetic pace of the Parisian capital soon brought him back home. “After such a high level of gastronomy, I needed to cook more simply”. The Valais bistro in which he is involved does not give priority to quality or seasonality. For the budding entrepreneur, it’s a real culture shock, making him realize that this aspect of the profession is the opposite of what he wants to do. “To my horror, we were serving tomato-mozzarella in the middle of December, and the meats were bought in action at the supermarket”. It’s out of the question for Rapha\u00ebl to continue in this direction. Back to basics, respect for the product and cultivation of the land attract him like a magnet. <\/p>\n

A self-taught gardener, he immersed himself in reference books and taught himself the art of agriculture. He sowed, planted and harvested, often making mistakes and sometimes succeeding, but he knew he had made the right choice. As the seasons go by, he also becomes aware of market demand and the desires of a discerning clientele. “There’s never a day when I regret my choice. And to top it all off, in his second year of operation, he became the supplier of vegetable-loving chefs. With each passing season, Les Jardins de Chivrageon has built a solid reputation in the world of agricultural excellence. As the Covid-19 pandemic rages on in 2020, Rapha\u00ebl takes advantage of this freeze frame to set up an online boutique. In the midst of the pandemic, sales explode and success is assured. <\/p>\n

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Eva Rogenstein<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Back to basics<\/h2>\n

Happier than ever, Rapha\u00ebl G\u00e9taz pampers his treasures to the delight of plant lovers. If his fields have become a home away from home, his ovens have become his homeland. In the spirit of table d’h\u00f4tes, he offers themed dinners where vegetables are served from the garden to the plate. Why not indulge in miso-lacquered eggplant and fennel in 3 steps: grated raw, crystallized with sugar and accompanied by a cucumber and rhubarb granita. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In his gardens at Chivrageon, Rapha\u00ebl G\u00e9taz cultivates fruit and vegetables with love, respect and patience, while applying a touch of Chinese medicine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":20639,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"slim_seo":{"title":"Essential garden | Restaurant | Edouard Amoiel","description":"In his gardens at Chivrageon, Rapha\u00ebl G\u00e9taz cultivates fruit and vegetables with love, respect and patience, while applying a touch of Chinese medicine."},"_slim_seo_primary_term_category":0,"_slim_seo_primary_term_post_tag":0,"_slim_seo_primary_term_restaurants-par-lieux":0,"_slim_seo_primary_term_style-de-restaurant":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[358],"tags":[415,512,511,379,509],"restaurants-par-lieux":[],"style-de-restaurant":[],"class_list":["post-20637","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-portrait","tag-chef","tag-culture","tag-garden","tag-gastronomy","tag-vegetables"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20637","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20637"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20637\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20637"},{"taxonomy":"restaurants-par-lieux","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/restaurants-par-lieux?post=20637"},{"taxonomy":"style-de-restaurant","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/style-de-restaurant?post=20637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}