What Is Growing in QB Cucina’s Kitchen Garden This August?
- Our Sustainable Farm (OSF)
August at One Belvedere Tuscany brings QB Cucina’s kitchen garden this August into focus as part of the restaurant’s seasonal approach. Rather than following a fixed crop list, the kitchen works with ingredients as they become ready to harvest, complemented by ingredients from selected suppliers. This garden-to-table connection allows Chef Federico Viti and his team to shape each menu around seasonality, freshness, and the natural rhythm of the estate.
Seasonal vegetables and greens are gathered at peak ripeness, while the current summer menu features zucchini and zucchini flowers, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, romaine lettuce, herbs, melon, watermelon and apricots. Together, these seasonal ingredients show how August shapes QB Cucina’s fresh, vegetable-led cooking.
What Is Growing in QB Cucina's Kitchen Garden This August?
One Belvedere Tuscany dedicates part of its 50-hectare estate to vegetables and orchards, alongside vineyards, olive groves and other cultivated areas. The garden supplies seasonal vegetables and greens to QB Cucina, where Chef Federico Viti and his team build menus around freshness, availability and the character of each ingredient.
August is a productive moment in the Tuscan growing season. Rather than presenting the garden as a fixed catalogue, QB Cucina follows the harvest as it changes. The current summer menu reflects this rhythm through zucchini, zucchini flowers, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, lettuce and fresh herbs such as basil, mint, oregano, chives, tarragon, parsley and thyme. Summer fruits including melon, watermelon and apricots also appear across the menu throughout the warm summer season.
How Does the August Kitchen Garden Shape QB Cucina's Menu?
QB Cucina is proudly Deliciously Vegetarian, and its menus are closely connected to land and season. Lunch changes with the harvest, while the gourmet dinner is designed around the harvest of the week.
A zucchini flower can become part of a gnocco with potatoes, zucchini, fresh goat cheese and mint. Tomatoes can appear with organic spaghetti, garlic, oil, chilli, oregano and chives. Peppers can accompany tortelli filled with sheep’s ricotta, while roasted eggplant can be paired with chickpeas and fermented lemon. These examples show how summer produce can guide a dish without unnecessary complexity.
Why Does Regenerative Growing Matter to the Garden?
At One Belvedere Tuscany, the kitchen garden is part of a wider approach to caring for the land. Documented soil-focused practices across the estate include cover crops and green manure within Belvedere1 Winery’s vineyards, while kitchen garden management responds to the needs of seasonal crops.
During Tuscany’s hot, dry summer, careful water management becomes especially important. Mulching can help reduce moisture loss from the soil and limit weed growth. Attention to seasonal conditions and the water needs of plants is an important part of responsible kitchen garden management.
For the kitchen garden, this attention connects food production with responsible care for the land.
This approach also supports QB Cucina’s efforts to reduce food waste. Chef Federico’s kitchen considers the structure and potential of ingredients carefully, looking for ways to use them fully. The connection between garden and kitchen therefore extends beyond freshness. It influences how ingredients are selected, handled and transformed.
Can Guests Experience QB Cucina's Kitchen Garden?
Yes. The garden is part of the wider One Belvedere Tuscany experience rather than an area separated from hospitality. Cooking classes begin with a guided tour of the garden and cantina before guests take part in hands-on preparation and a shared dinner. Estate experiences can also include walks through the farm, vineyards, olive groves and ornamental vegetable garden.
Seeing vegetables and herbs where they grow gives context to a menu that changes according to availability. It also makes the relationship between estate agriculture and vegetarian gastronomy easier to understand.
For guests dining at QB Cucina, the same connection appears at the table. The restaurant uses ingredients from the estate’s gardens alongside ingredients sourced from selected suppliers, bringing estate agriculture and thoughtfully selected produce into one considered dining experience.
August in the Garden, Reflected at the Table
What is growing in QB Cucina’s kitchen garden this August is best understood as a changing seasonal harvest rather than a fixed list. The estate confirms that its garden provides vegetables and greens, while QB Cucina’s summer menu currently highlights zucchini, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, lettuce, herbs and warm-season fruits alongside ingredients from selected suppliers.
At One Belvedere Tuscany, the garden, farm and restaurant are connected through a shared focus on seasonality and care for the land. August makes that relationship especially visible, with fresh produce guiding menus that respond to the week, the weather and the land.
Experience the August harvest through QB Cucina at One Belvedere Tuscany, where seasonal vegetarian dining offers a direct and thoughtful connection to the estate and its surroundings.
