Thirty-hectare beachfront resort Alma has cultivated its own onsite farm to produce an array of fruits, vegetables, herbs and chicken eggs, affording organic zero-kilometre vegetables for guests’ meals and beverages. In a bid to make Alma more self-sufficient and sustainable, landscape manager Ngo Duc Thinh and his team of green thumbs have transformed parts of the family resort into a 1000sqm nursery garden, a 260sqm chicken farm and a 180sqm herb garden. Situated on the northern end of Alma’s grounds, a short walk from the Active Youth Club for teenagers, the nursery garden is thriving with bananas, coconuts, papaya, squash, passionfruit, sunflowers, daisies and more. Adjacent to the nursery garden, the chicken farm is currently home to a growing brood of 17 hens, six roosters and 18 chicks. Situated just outside beachfront restaurant Atlantis, with panoramic views of Long Beach, the herb garden is brimming with mustard leaves, morning glory, red and green chili peppers, Vietnamese basil, lettuce, green onions, white radish, bok choy, tomatoes and more. Currently all the farm’s produce is directed to the resort’s restaurants. Bananas, coconuts and eggs, for example, are served during breakfast at Alma Garden restaurant. Lettuce and mustard leaves are included in salads and coconuts are provided as drinks at Atlantis. Italian restaurant La Casa’s traditional caprese salad features tomatoes from the herb garden along with locally produced mozzarella cheese. Leftovers from the resort’s kitchens are used as compost and the farm is watered with recycled water. Complimentary garden tours are on offer for the whole family, with staff sharing fruitful tips on how to cultivate a veggie patch at home. Children also learn about how to care for chickens. Alma also plans to host cooking classes by the farm, where guests pick and clean their ingredients to cook their own healthy meals. “We feel so proud to be putting our resort’s land to good use by creating our very own farm and embracing the ‘farm to table’ movement; it’s so rewarding for our team of gardeners to see how the kitchen staff love picking produce from the farm, and to see guests of all ages take tours of the farm with interest and curiosity,” said Mr Thinh. “There’s a lot of talk in the hospitality industry about going green but it’s really important to walk the talk and this is yet another initiative at Alma that helps create a more sustainable holiday for guests,” added Alma’s managing director Herbert Laubichler-Pichler. The resort’s ‘hotel as farm’ efforts follow numerous initiatives including plans to implement Vietnam’s most ambitious solar power project for a hotel yet, and the appointment of a sustainability officer. In addition to engaging staff in sustainability initiatives across three staff committees focused on ‘green products’, ‘innovation and solutions’ and ‘people and partnerships’, Alma has other measures in place to reduce its carbon footprint including a water treatment plant, electric buggy station, recycling in its garbage room and the resort’s transition to paperless solutions due to Alma App. To contact Alma or to make a booking, please email info@alma-resort.com or call +84 258 399 1666 About Alma  Situated on Vietnam’s emerging Cam Ranh peninsula fronting Long Beach, Alma resort commands some 30 hectares of inspiring ground. Emblematic of Vietnam‘s maturation as a destination, the bold and spacious integrated resort offers 580 oversized suites and pavilions that all afford sweeping vistas of the ocean, including contemporary three bedroom oceanfront pavilions each totalling 224 sqm with a living room, four bathrooms and a private pool. Alma features a broad spectrum of restaurants helmed by top chefs, a food court with an array of local and international cuisine, as well as a sports bar, pool bar and beach bar. Other highlights include 12 swimming pools cascading down to the beach, a waterpark, 13-treatment room spa, 70-seat cinema, convention centre, amphitheater, science museum, gymnasium and yoga room, 18-hole mini golf course, a youth centre with virtual reality games, a kid’s club, water sports centre and even an ‘Alma Mart‘ mini supermarket.

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Meliá Chiang Mai, a 260-key hotel to soon debut in Thailand’s mountainous north, has embraced the ‘farm to table’ social movement by establishing a farm to harvest produce for its restaurants, bars and spa. The hotel, due to open on April 8 on Charoen Prathet Road in the heart of Chiang Mai, has partnered with ORI9IN The Gourmet Farm, a 198-acre gourmet organic farm located in nearby San Sai District overseen by two-star Michelin Chef turned sustainable farmer James Noble and his wife May. Noble, a Briton who has run Michelin-starred restaurants in the UK, will work with local farmers to grow an array of fruits, vegetables and herbs for the hotel on its own two-acre farm on the broader ORI9IN property. In addition to local seasonal produce such as young morning glory, red basil, lemongrass and passion fruit, the farm will also grow various kinds of tomatoes, salad leaves, and specialized ingredients such as padrón pepper that would otherwise need to be imported from Spain for the hotel’s authentic Mediterranean cuisine. The partnership is a central plank of Meliá Chiang Mai’s ‘360° Cuisine’ program, under which the hotel aims to work closely with local farmers to help them improve sustainability and encourage ethical production to make communities and the overall food system more resilient. The 360° Cuisine program not only gives guests peace of mind about where their food comes from but encourages them to visit the hotel’s farm to meet local farmers and learn more about sustainable farming and healthier eating. Championing local procurement and sustainably sourced food, ORI9IN is the only farming operation globally that partners with a network of restaurants and hotels to focus on import substitution and reducing its carbon footprint without sacrificing flavour. The hotel’s menus will highlight appetizers, main courses and desserts that feature ingredients from the farm. Example dishes include ‘Salmorejo con Tomate Triturado’ (fresh chilled tomato soup), ‘Fattoush Salad’ and ‘Fruta de Temporada’ (seasonal fruit platter). Ingredients from the farm will also be in various beverages at the hotel’s bars and Meliá’s signature YHI Spa. “In addition to pursuing ‘farm to plate’ by sourcing organic produce that travels only a short distance to our hotel, our partnership with ORI9IN also comprises ‘plate to farm’ where we separate our food waste and bring it back to the farm as compost, thus minimizing waste as part of a truly 360° concept,” said Meliá Chiang Mai’s general manager Edward E. Snoeks. The hotel will offer guests day trips to the farm that include a picnic lunch and a chance to learn more “about the journey their food and these products have made, as well as who has been a part of that journey”, said Noble. “People often don’t know where food comes from, so we show them, albeit underscored by our passion for locally grown, sustainable ingredients,” he said. “This is also tourism that leaves no footprint on the land; we’re trying to show people that you can have a day out without harming what you came to see in the first place.” Drawing on Meliá’s Spanish origins and celebrating Spain’s famed gastronomy, Meliá Chiang Mai’s dining landscape will feature restaurants Mai Restaurant and Bar and Laan Na Kitchen, bars Mai The Sky Bar and Tien Pool Bar, and lounges Ruen Kaew and The Level Lounge. To contact Meliá Chiang Mai or to make a booking, email reservation.chiangmai@melia.com, or call +66 52 090 699

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