A HOTELS Top 10 award winner in the F&B category, Chef Josh Murray from the Conrad Washington D.C., is proving his award worthiness with forward thinking, cooking menu items such as barbecue pork on the hotel rooftop with a solar oven, of course using locally sourced ingredients.
His effort is so on trend with consumers looking for hyperlocal experiences, not to mention sustainably-informed. He sources ingredients locally and grows his own herbs to create dishes at Summit the Rooftop.
“My first time solar cooking was in elementary school,” Murray said. “I started building solar ovens out of shoeboxes, black paper, and aluminum foil to make nachos. During my furlough, I started incorporating solar lighting for gardens around my house. It was then I started getting back into it at a deeper level again. Solar usage has become so easy to embrace.”
Watch this inspiring video to see how easy a solar oven really is to use.
Chef Murray said he was inspired by the pandemic to up the ante on sustainable practices and followed some of the broader practices coming to the fore such as utilizing more outdoor space, creating gardens, baking bread and being more adventurous in the kitchen.
And he is not done yet with plans to expand the solar-powered oven menu as well as his rooftop garden. He also plans to work with a solar dehydrator for drink and plate garnishes, and perhaps join a co-op to share vegetables grown on the rooftop.
The Conrad Washington D.C. already had a sustainable bent as the property Gold LEED certified with practices that include an onsite storm water management system that captures 97% of rainfall used to irrigate the hotel’s outdoor terraces and to cool its air conditioning towers.