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28.04.2022

THE LUXURY HOTEL BUSINESS GOES GREEN RESPECT FOR NATURE AND MANKIND AND VALORIZATION OF LOCAL PRODUCE

IN TOTAL ADEQUACY WITH THE DEEP CHANGES OF OUR SOCIETY, THE LUXURY HOTEL SECTOR IS ADAPTING ITS OPERATING MODE TO THE NEW REQUIREMENTS OF ITS CUSTOMERS WISHING TO CONSUME LOCAL PRODUCE AND TO ENHANCE SIMPLE AND AUTHENTIC HUMAN EXPERIENCES.

For several years now, Saint-Tropez' upscale hotels have increasingly been promoting local produce. Review of details... While the sommeliers highlight the best local wines on their menus, like the Byblos Hotel, which offers guests its house wine cuvée Bertaud Belieu, the chefs highlight Mediterranean recipes based on market, seasonal and local produce whenever possible. At the Cheval Blanc Saint-Tropez, a three-star restaurant, Arnaud Donckele claims "a complex but not complicated cuisine", rich in an extreme purity of tastes and associations. Faithful to his refined style, the chef of La Réserve, Éric Canino, masters to perfection, the cooking and subtle combinations of flavors where olive oil reigns. Organic vegetables, freshly caught fish, noble products, compose the menu of this restaurant, between sky and sea.

In La Croix-Valmer, the Lily Of The Valley hotel offers you a made to measure wellness and health experience, including the food, under the guidance of chef Vincent Maillard. The resort's restaurants offer local cuisine with a wide range of vegan and vegetarian options that are in tune with the times. For 65 years, the mythical Club 55 and the de Colmont family has been promoting the magic of the remarkable Natural Space of Pampelonne beach with authenticity and passion. This season is, in the heart of the news, Patrice de Colmont has published a booklet for his clients in order to communicate his philosophy of "respect for nature and mankind", but also that of our Mediterranean Provencal culture and more precisely, that of the Massif des Maures and our magnificent peninsula which does away with industrialized products or those illustrating the excesses of globalization: Coca Cola, fish from industrial fishing and beef that does not respect ancestral breeding practices…

GREEN VEGETABLE GARDENS

Hotels are also developing their own crops, like the Byblos, which this season inaugurated a 300 m2 agro-ecological vegetable garden in the heart of the palace! Created at the instigation of Antoine Chevanne and the local association "Partager la Terre", this beautiful first, is in line with the palace's desire to serve its guests the best seasonal organic local produce. At Château de la Messardière, a charming little aromatic garden occupies a good place in the palace's Mediterranean park. Thyme, rosemary, sage, basil, parsley, tarragon, etc. grow here. It is therefore no coincidence that Saint-Tropez has become one of the leading vegetarian destinations in France, with no less than 200 restaurants committed to this dynamic, offering vegetarian dishes on the menu…

NEW CONSUMER HABITS TOWARDS HAPPY SOBRIETY, THE KEY TO LIVING WELL

Many producers in the Gulf of Saint-Tropez have been mobilizing for years to protect the planet, "consume differently" as advocated by the peasant philosopher Pierre Rabhi, and show their contemporaries the path of "Happy Sobriety"... A theme that may seem paradoxical in Saint-Tropez, the den of excess, but the challenge is all the more appealing. In order to respond to the post-crisis Covid-19, every Sunday morning in summer 2020, the small farmers' market of Bertaud Belieu sells the harvests of small local producers, an initiative destined to last over time in the commune of Gassin. Robert van Straaten of the Hotel Villa Belrose is one of the initiators of the project. He is a privileged partner for the promotion of local productions. "It's never too late to eat well!" is the motto of Charly Loisel, organic baker of the Gulf in Port Grimaud. "My grandfather, a farmer, and my uncle, a stockbreeder, sided with pesticides and industrial agriculture... My cousin and I took the opposite tack, he became a milk producer from selected farms and I became an organic artisan baker." At the heart of the Gaec des Oliviers farm in Cogolin, Sébastien Maunier raises 700 French redheaded hens on the family farm, fed exclusively with organic cereal. Finally, let us salute the initiative of Sylvie Poiron and Bertrand Gindraud who have combined their talents to create Green Pousses, a company based on the production of sprouted seeds and micro-sprouts: basil, watercress, arugula, red cabbage, broccoli, coriander, radish… Crunchy, light and healthy, these green sprouts have become the stars of healthy dishes. Whether on vacation, in a secondary or main residence, anywhere in the Gulf, a real offer of proximity committed to "better consumption" is available and accessible... Now it's up to us to follow suit!