Berlin, โคGermanyโฃ – A unique โurban garden in Berlin is reconnecting diners and residents โwith forgotten flavors and the medicinal power of plants. Rรถtzel’s Monk Garden, established in 2022, cultivates between 150 โขand 200 varieties ofโฃ herbs, leaves, and โคtrees, many unavailable in typical German supermarkets.
The 2,000 square meter (21,530 square feet) garden, located inโฃ Marienfelde on Berlin’s southern edge, supplies high-end restaurantsโค seeking locally-sourced, flavorful ingredients. Founder โคand owner, Rรถtzel, a former hotelier and โdancer, also hosts “wild herb walks” and workshops teaching participants how too create โขitems like skin cream, wine, and herbalโข remedies.
Rรถtzel’s โคpassionโข for plantsโ stems from โขchildhood, beginning around ages four or five with collecting wild herbs, and was further deepened duringโค aโ personal illness 13 years ago. He credits herbal teas with โaiding his recovery. This experience led โขhim to establishโ a medicinalโฃ monastic โขgarden adjacent to โฃa church in Berlin, modeled after similar gardens maintainedโ in the Middle Ages for food and healing purposes.
“At some point, the knowledge wasโข lost,” Rรถtzel explained,โฃ attributing this โdecline to “the โขindustrialization of food.” He estimates โฃthat “somethingโ like 99% ofโข people don’t know a single name of a plant.”
The garden’s offerings include numerous varieties of mint, oregano, and cilantro, alongside hyssop, New Zealand spinach, โขfour-leaf โsorrel, yarrow, and a localโ variety of tarragon. Beyond restaurantโฃ supply, Rรถtzel hosts occasional dinners *within* the โขgarden itself, featuring five-course mealsโ paired withโค different herbal teas.
Recent โdiner Britta โฃRosenthal,โค afterโ enjoying a first course of crayfish and peas with basil, expressed a desire to learn “whatโ herbs can do” and “perhaps to become a bitโค more valiant preparing food, not just with pepper, salt and paprika but โคalso with green fresh stuff.”
Rรถtzel โfinds โคparticular satisfaction in rekindling forgotten culinary memories. “manyโฃ people, above all olderโ generations, grewโ up in โขa way that they still knowโ some things that no longer exist today,” he โsaid. “It’s a pleasure for me when people remember something really special.”
The Monk Gardenโ represents a growing trend โtoward hyperlocal โfood systems and a renewed interest inโ conventionalโ herbal knowledge, offering โคa โtangible โlink to a past where plants played โa central role in both sustenance and well-being.
Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to thisโค report.