Climate adaptation has reached the world of fine dining: At Tuju, a three-Michelin-star restaurant in Brazil, erratic rainfall keeps its owners on their toes.
Chef Ivan Ralston and his partner, gastronomic researcher Katherina Cordas, spent two years studying local ingredients, mainly from the state of Sao Paulo, but using them at their peak is a challenge.
In a region where summer storms bring chaos and reservoirs run dry in winter, it takes "a lot of flexibility," said Cordas, 38, who runs a culinary research center that the pair created for the restaurant.
Tuju is situated in gastronomic powerhouse Sao Paulo, a megalopolis of 12 million people. In April, it secured its third Michelin star along with another restaurant in the city, Evvai - becoming the first two locations in Latin America to earn the top culinary honors.
Tuju offers four menus a year - "Humidity," "Rain," "Gale" and "Drought" - but they are not tied to fixed dates.
