La Zebra, a hotel in Tulum that grows its own vegetables

With the objective of creating responsible consumption and integrating the Mayan communities of Tulum, the hotel and restaurant La Zebra has developed a garden with local products that is part of a sustainable plan.

Jesús Eleazar Bonilla Hurtado, executive chef of La Zebra hotel and restaurant, participated in the Tulum Bioferia, which took place last weekend, where he explained that it all began with the creation of compost and later the cultivation of crops that are native to the region.

He mentioned that this project required even the change of culture and practices such as waste separation to cement a whole sustainability plan for the formation of the garden from which they obtain different ingredients that they use in the dishes they offer to the diners.

He specified that they began to consciously integrate cooperatives and even local products and suppliers to support the economy of the inhabitants of the rural areas of Tulum.

“I consider that it has been quite successful, now we have a small orchard that generates the distribution of a tasting menu concept and also the integration of the communities has been positive because there are even donations for the benefit of the villagers,” he said.

He commented that the objective is to have a more conscious society, a responsible consumption, to leave the stigma of “greenwash” and to be a totally sustainable company to permeate this prototype.

Bonilla Hurtado, originally from Querétaro and with more than 15 years working in the kitchens of Quintana Roo, said it is a big step to change the chip in the model of traditional gastronomy, which often does not look at the care of the planet or the organic importance that can be obtained from a culture like that of the Maya.

“I don’t see myself in anything other than dedicating myself to cooking, but now in a different way, the fact of changing to what the old companies did and changing the mentality of society takes us to a different step,” he said.

More info: https://lazebratulum.com/