Campo Comida Collective
The word ‘pop-up’ is one of the fashionable words of the season, but not everybody is taking it to the level that Gabrielle and Saba do, two ladies that briefly met, immediately clicked based on a mutual interest for healthy food and decided to found the CCC – no, not the Chaos Computer Club, but the Campo Comida Collective.
We had the pleasure to be invited to the first gathering in a beautiful country house near San Carlos. Everything was prepared with love and dedication, and what I loved the most, nothing fancy but real, and the people that attended were just as good.
Gabrielle & Saba
But let’s first find out some more about Gabrielle and Saba, who they are, where they come from and why they do what they do.
Where do you come from?
Gabrielle: I’m an island girl. I hail from a tiny country called Malta. Yes, it is an independent country with its own language. After years of living in London and subsequently on a remote island in Indonesia, I chose to live in Ibiza for its natural environment from farms to pine forests to beaches.
Saba: I was born in Canada to Iranian parents. Then grew up between Dubai & the U.K.
How did you come to love food?
Saba: When I was at university in Paris I met my best friend who introduced me to cooking healthy and delicious food.
Gabrielle: Brought up in Malta in the 80s under a protectionist government, we only had access to locally grown veggies, poultry, meat and fish. To be honest, I found most of the food back then quite bland. When I moved abroad, I had the opportunity to travel and discover local gastronomy all over Europe, North Africa and further afield. It was like a whole new world of food opened up. My appreciation for different cuisines and flavours grows daily.
How did you meet?
Saba: We met through the lovely Sandra at Ibiza Preservation Fund, an organization whose aim is to preserve Ibiza’s natural landscape in a sustainable manner.
The set-up:
The food and drinks were excellent, everything was elaborated to perfection and the presentation was just as good. Let’s get into some details and find out what the different ingredients were to the delicacies they served:
• Carob tahini balls – Ibiza carob flour, tahini, sesame seeds, dates, dried fig, Ibiza sea salt
• Vegan lemon drizzle cake – lemons, Ibiza almonds, spelt flour, coconut, coconut oil, almond milk
• Kuku – potato, chickpea flour, cabbage, saffron, turmeric, cumin powder
• Tahini sauce – tahini, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, nutritional yeast, dried mint (garnished with rose petals)
• Kale & fennel salad – kale marinated in orange juice, orange rind, lemon juice, lemony roast fennel, sunflower seeds, lentils, zataar
• Cabbage dolma – stuffed with lentils, sundried tomatoes, wild garlic, harissa chili spice mix, fresh coriander & parsley, cooked in tomato & onion sauce
• Beetroot sesame yoghurt – tahini, roast beetroot, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, (garnished with nigella seeds)
• Green garlic and green onions – grill-charred
• Tabouleh – parsley, chives, cilantro, mint, cherry tomatoes, apple, lemon rind & juice, hemp seeds (garnished with wild garlic flowers)
The whole culinary feast lasted for about two hours, one course better than the other, accompanied by fresh cucumber water, turmeric, orange and cinnamon lemonade, fine ecological wines and our favourite ibicencan beer, Ibosim. Not to speak about the wonderful conversations one can have with like-minded people sitting together at one big table.
Let’s find out where they want to take the Campo Comida Collective, their vision of the future and what everybody can do to have a better nutrition.
Where do you get the ingredients for your excellent food creations?
Saba: We get them from different organic farms around the island. For our most recent lunch, we literally hand-picked all of our produce from Es Senalló.
Gabrielle: The philosophy of CCC is to create innovative dishes with seasonal produce obtained directly from the farms where it is grown, to provide our guests with the authentic farm-to-table experience.
What are your next projects, we heard you got another gathering coming soon?
Saba: Our next pop-up lunch ‘002: Strawberry Fields’ will be held on Wednesday 10th of May on a farm in San Rafael. As the title suggests, strawberries will be a main feature of this event. We are planning to organise one event per month so watch this space. A link to the next event can be found here.
Strawberry fields forever! What can anybody do to improve their nutrition?
Gabrielle: Combine fresh foods of different colours and textures to create a sensory feast. Let your creativity go wild!
Saba: In the words of Michael Pollan “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”
Three things you would change immediately if you would be given a magic wand?
Gabrielle:
• Ban plastic
• Introduce edible plants on every street, at schools, near shops, in stations and any public realm
• Eliminate all pharmaceuticals and replace them with natural, herbal and plant remedies
Saba:
• Eliminate borders
• Make cooking lessons mandatory in all schools
• Put an end to factory farming
CCC in 20 years?
Saba: We would have our own farm where we grow our own veggies, give classes on organic farming & holistic cooking workshops. And of course run weekly lunch clubs with the seasonal produce from our farm :-)
Gabrielle: dito.
Thank you so much Gabrielle and Saba, it was our utmost pleasure to be your guest, we hope to be able to attend lots more of your beautiful and unique gatherings, keep up the good spirit, the island needs more of you!
______________________________________________________________________________________________
more info:
Tags: Campo Comida Collective
