Permaculture centre grows organic food, designs home gardens and offers lessons in gut health for Hongkongers

‘I began meditation … When that lens is turned inward, that’s when you start to see everything out there as different,’ says sustainability advocate

Matthew Teague left restaurant job to found permaculture centre on Lamma Island that promotes composting, growing food at home, and regenerative agriculture

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An organic permaculture centre on Lamma Island teaches Hongkongers how to reconnect with nature by regenerating soil. Photo: Bridge Hong Kong

Published: 12:15pm, 5 Aug 2020Updated: 12:16pm, 5 Aug 2020

Not long ago, Matthew Teague could be found in the heart of Hong Kong juggling several plates as the general manager of a popular restaurant group in Central.

Today he’s spearheading a movement, called Bridge, and asking like-minded people to join him as he adopts a simpler life.

“Bridge sort of happened organically, if you’ll pardon the pun,” says Teague of his new role as a regenerative entrepreneur and educator. “My experience in the dining industry opened my eyes and shed light on food sustainability and choices, and the role good food plays in bringing together and healing communities. I felt a calling to really dig to the roots of where our food comes from, and how we’re able to consume so much of it – despite there being not a farm in sight in the city.”

But a farm he did find, on Hong Kong’s Lamma Island. There, he’s embraced permaculture, as in “permanent agriculture”, trying to provide a framework for living in harmony with nature that gives back more than is consumed. Permaculture is a movement developed in the 1970s as a solution to an increasingly overburdened food system.

Matthew Teague and Janaki Chengalath teach people about soil health and protection. Bridge also offers permaculture design workshops. Photo: Bridge Hong Kong

“Globally, we’re trying to squeeze infinite growth out of a finite system of resources – and if people don’t wake up and change their consumption habits, then we’re headed for a pretty serious system collapse,” the 27-year-old says.