WOOD GOD MOUNTAIN slow food day
Lunch on a misty mountain, dinner in a midnight garden...
A two-hour drive from Hangzhou, in Zhejiang province’s upland west, the farming community of Wood God Mountain has been committed to sustainable, organic, small-scale agriculture for decades—almost without any realisation of their achievements. Crop rotation, companion planting, and only if necessary homemade fertilisers and pesticides are just some of the techniques they employ. And the slow-food results are enjoyed each mealtime—eggs and chicken, bamboo shoots and soya bean, maize and pork, duck, chilli and pepper, and melon. Every day almost something different. They must make a living of course, and they supply a small handful of shops and restaurants in the region—such as Hangzhou’s exemplary Dragon Well Manor. If you visit the restaurant, be sure to read the inventory of the days supplies which sits on a lectern at the entrance to the gardens: the owner Mr Dai lists every box, tray, sack or bucket of produce which arrived at the restaurant that morning, with details of the suppliers, their farms and methods. And you may well come across a mention of the hardworking families atop this misty mountain in eastern China...
First published 2023
