Kloë Wood Lyndorff of Two Green Shoots on her life in food

After growing up in the wilds of West Cork, Kloë Wood Lyndorff jumped over the pond for a decade to study and work in the UK. From discovering the wonders of the natural world, seeing sustainability in academia and in action, and dipping her toes into a PhD at the European Centre for the Environment and Human Health, she came to the end of seven years of reading and writing, aching to roll her sleeves up and put a flavour of what she’d learnt into practice.

It was while on a community project in Cornwall, that she met her partner, Adam Carveth — a master gardener and passionate plants man — whose fifteen years’ experience includes volunteering at the world-renowned Trewithen Gardens, before managing historic garden estates for the National Trust, and working as Head Gardener at Knebworth Estate.

In the Spring of 2017, Kloë’s parents sowed the seed of an idea involving her moving back to West Cork with Adam and, by the autumn, they found themselves on a boat bobbing across the Irish Sea and launching Two Green Shoots, where they design spaces and experiences that reconnect you with what nature looks, smells, sounds and feels like, and how vital this is for our health and that of this planet we call home.

Here, Kloë Wood Lyndorff shares everything from her earliest memories of food to her culinary inspirations…

What are your earliest memories of food?

My earliest really vivid memory is of a flavour! I was about 3 at nursery school in Costa Rica (another story!) and was given a spoon of honey to taste. I remember not only the incredibly thick sweet syrup but everything from that moment – sitting on a picnic blanket under the cool canopy of some trees out the front of the nursery. It taught me how powerful taste and scent are in cementing memories in our minds.

How would you describe your relationship with food?

The more time I can give to it the more I love it!

What was the first meal you learned to cook?

TV twisters!! They sound awful (and probably were!) but my sister and I absolutely loved them at the time. Basically a hearty layer of cheese and ketchup sandwiched between two sheets of puff pastry, cut into long strips, twisted and baked. Warm, cheesy, pastries – heaven and probably the only really devilish thing we could find in the kids cookery book we’d been given!

How did food become a part of your business?

Food is such an incredible connecting force – with other people in traditions and rituals, with the seasons and with our wider landscape and environment. Food brings our taste buds alive and thus opens our eyes to what’s on our doorstep – the growers (nature included!), producers and chefs that make it all dance. It starts conversations about seasons, about climate change, about where it all comes from (if we even know!?) and can be a powerful force for good, producing food in a way that gives back to people and place. These realisations are all central to our business and everything we do.

What’s your go-to breakfast?

A big bowl of homemade granola with dairy free yoghurt and fresh fruit or preserved compôte from the garden.

If you’re impressing friends and family at a dinner party, what are you serving up?

Raclette – the ultimate grilling buffet! It centers around a sharing grill which sits in the middle of the table with a frying plate on the top for caramelising all manner of veg like a BBQ and underneath everyone gets a little tray for melting cheeses. It’s such a wonderful crowd pleaser with people able to choose whatever combinations they like. We usually do a mix of marinated veg on top and Macroom Buffalo Halloumi, a local cheese board of Durrus, Gubbeen and Carrigaline cheeses for grilling with some steamed potatoes from the garden which you crush with your fork and then drizzled the melted cheese into. Also squeezed onto the table – Union Hall Smoked Mackerel and a huge garden salad of dozens of edible leaves and flowers and our own zingy vinaigrette. After all that cheese, pudding tends to be a refreshing homemade sorbet – my favourite experimental flavour this Summer so far has been Nettle and Fennel!

Who is your culinary inspiration?

I love plant-based chefs and foragers as they really put botanicals centre stage. My go-to recipes are from the likes of The Happy Pear, Ella Woodward and Rachel Lambert.

What would your last meal on earth be?

A shared one on the longest table I could find with everyone invited!

What’s your go-to comfort food?

Dates, nut butter and a cup of tea. Sounds ridiculous but the ultimate comfort food for me is there for you when you’ve got nothing left at the end of a crazy busy day and just need a food hug! Put the kettle on, meanwhile get a date, split it, remove the stone and replace with a spoon of nut butter. A fudgy, creamy, instant caramel truffle – try it!

What’s the go-to quick meal you cook when you’re tired and hungry?

Indonesian Satay! Grab some greens and garlic from the garden and add to a super speedy sauce made by blending nut butter with some stock, cider vinegar, honey and tamari, a tin of beans and reduced until thick and creamy and served with some noodles – 10 mins later – yum!

What is one food or flavour you cannot stand?

Turkish Delight – tastes like jellied laundry detergent – does anyone actually enjoy it!?

Hangover cure?

Mocktails!

Sweet or savoury?

Both! One makes you relish the other so much more!

Fine dining or pub grub?

Pub grub but only because when I have a meal out, I want my belly to be as happy as my taste buds! There’s no fun in leaving a meal still hungry.

Favourite restaurant in Ireland?

Technically a cafe but Good Day Deli in Cork – amazing food for people and planet a green oasis in the heart of Cork city.

Best coffee in Ireland?

If I did drink it, I’d go to Bantry House tearoom where Sam not only makes a great coffee (taste tested by friends) but also makes the mugs!! Check out his work @samwhitestoneware

Go-to beverage accompaniment?

Classic – a freshly baked scone, zingy berry jam, crowned with a dollop of clotted cream – nothing better with a brew! My partner’s Cornish – they do it right, jam first – always! We just need someone in Ireland to make proper clotted cream, not found one as good as Roddas in Ireland ..yet! Recommendations welcome!

What are your thoughts on the Irish foodie scene?

It’s great to see people enjoying plants more than ever!

What’s your favourite thing about cooking?

That first tentative try of a dish and then the incredible satisfaction when you find the flavours singing their heart out – it’s a thrill every time!

What does food — sitting down to a meal with friends, mindfully preparing a meal, nourishment, etc — mean to you?

A chance to give back – to the people I’m making the meal for, to support amazing producers who’ve made the ingredients we aren’t able to grow ourselves, to the wider environment by using every part of the plants we harvest and choosing ingredients that are grown in a way that nurtures a living planet.

Food for thought — Is there room for improvement within the Irish food/restaurant/hospitality scene?

YES – where to start!! Firstly, we need to stop wasting food. Globally we currently produce enough food to feed 10 billion people, well over and above the 8 billion of us that call earth home however we only eat about a third of this largely due to issues of politics, transportation, storage and an ongoing obsession with the aesthetic. Plants grow wonky and they get munched by other species (I always tell people the best lettuce leaves are the ones with holes in – that means they haven’t been doused in chemicals to kill off anything that might do some taste testing for us!). I could go on…

Chef’s kiss — Tell us about one standout foodie experience you’ve had recently.

Lily’s Thai in Kenmare – we were a group of six and every single one of us had THE BEST dish!

Compliments to the chef — Now’s your chance to sing the praises of a talented chef, beloved restaurant or particularly talented foodie family member.

My mum – though food is very much fuel for her, what a feeder she is! She can make a three-course meal appear within 10 minutes of arriving home – bag and hat still attached! She makes ‘wee’ batches of the most delicious hummus, enough to sink a ship and indeed re-decorate the Kitchen when the pressure cooker explodes. Most of all though, she’s inspired me to just roll the sleeves up, get stuck in and make magic with what you have falling out the fridge, freezer, cupboards and garden!

Secret ingredient — What, in your estimation, makes the perfect dining experience?

A feast that nourishes not only people but the planet too!

Find out more about Two Green Shoots’ experiences right here.

Imagery by Kate Bean Photography