The founder of Finca Vegacosta, Toño Morales, explained on Radio Lanzarote-Onda Cero that he traveled to the V Cooperation Seminar of the INTERREG-MAC Project 'Saborea: Sustainable Gastronomic and Tourist Destinations', which was held in Madeira, to "exchange knowledge with other regions".
"Seeing other places, in this case a tourist island like us, highlights what you are doing well or badly and indicates which way you are going. And listening to what they think of us is also important," Morales acknowledges.
On the Portuguese island they were able to enjoy interesting projects. "There was one of a family that lives high up on a mountain and has a trout farm. They are natural pools formed in that mountain massif. And you can go there, they show you the whole project and you can fish your own trout to eat in their restaurant or take home. They have their little restaurant set up in that same place and all the brothers work there. They also have their chickens and make their own desserts. They are very beautiful family projects that connect you with the territory and show you that the local has a place within the tourist macro world. And not only does it have a place, it is strengthened," he says.
"Then we met a family that has a winery that communicates with their orchard. Based on this they have their wine, their vegetables and their fruit. And they have created a space within their own house where they attend to groups. I find that point of communication with the visitor to explain data about the territory super interesting. It was funny when I asked them the price of water and they told me that they could spend all they wanted and paid 10 euros a year. But it is logical, there the water runs everywhere," explains Morales.
Regarding the problem of water in Lanzarote that affects colleagues in the agricultural sector, Morales points out that "it is not fair that, on an island like ours, which was the first to have water on land, this public company that administered the water has been destroyed..."
"There are people who are cultivating and are left without water for a week or 15 days. Now comes a plant for Tinajo, in which they have been working for years and that will give water to Soo, Tinajo, Muñique I imagine, the upper part of the island. Now the issue of the emissary is being debated, which, if it is harmful to the area of La Santa, should be resolved in a way that no one is negatively affected," says the owner of Finca VegaCosta.
Agricultural Interpretation Center
Morales' project of Finca Vegacosta is aimed at being an Agricultural Interpretation Center. "The children will see camels, which they no longer remember. But many people of my age lived them. I also want visitors to see roasting, to taste the tafeña and to see what gofio means and to milk a goat. It is part of our culture," he explains.
Morales says that he only exports his products to his restaurant. But there is an exception. "I am in Club La Santa and my dream was that, to be able to offer this client who has given me everything I am on a personal and professional level. I dreamed of creating and setting up these farms and I have been fighting with them for 20 years, we have made them all new. When I started with this project, my father told me that if he was wrong, but it was my dream to be able to return in gastronomic value everything that this client has given me," he says.
"To this day, we have about 120,000 meters of new farm made and with great enthusiasm. We supply everything in our restaurant. There are lettuces, peppers, leeks, celery, eggplants, arugula, sweet potatoes, onion, watermelon, melon, everything in season. It is a pride to see how the aromatic herbs smell. But our project, as I said, aims to be much more than that. We are going to explain our culture so rich and that has brought us here, but that we hardly value".
