The largest “edible forest” on the planet is served at Chef Rodrigo Pacheco’s green restaurant, Bocavaldivia, in Ecuador. “Plants are our ally. The more we have them, the more climate resistant we are,” says Pacheco.

The number of chefs who respect the principles of sustainable cuisine and local biodiversity is increasing day by day and they bring food products they grow directly in their gardens or on rented land when necessary to their guests’ tables. This includes Ecuadorian chef Rodrigo Pacheco’s project to cultivate the largest edible forest on the planet. The chef has been serving sustainable food at the Bocavaldivia restaurant for nine years since he started the creative permaculture project at Puerto Cayo on the Ecuadorian coast.

Pacheco said, “We are trying to recreate the ecosystem of a normal forest with edible plants. All of them are native species, we don’t want to create artificial ecosystems. When we started, we encountered a flat, dry and empty place. Nine years later, it became a forest. We mainly use purple potatoes, corn, cocoa, papaya. We grow Ecuador-specific species such as pepper, pineapple, avocado, pepper, zucchini. We try to do our best with the resources we have. We use the land wisely, we adapt to nature, we make sure that we leave the place better than we found it.”