Locavore NXT

Locavore NXT Team Photo

– Regi, Santika, Adi, Sukarma, Dicky, Darmana, Ardi, Alfonso, Purnama, Racfael, Varian, Derricho, Aldy, Putri, Suarsa, Ringga, Apri, Adi, Oka, Kasida, Dinda, Danny, Adamas, Richard, Viony, Dex, Cozy.

 – Komang, Sudiarta, Riyan, Sukadana, Shodiqin, Ayu Widari, Shay, Rizky, Feri, Intan, Galih, Julia, Dedik, Budi, Edmund, Steven, Yogi, Adi Sedana, Sook Yi, Surya, Nicolas, Martini, Ellen, Oris, Lauren.

 – Edi, Adi Arsa, Widi, Wahyu, Yasa, Riko, Wole, Danastri, Novita, Retno, Yeshinta, Jeki, Miranto, Sukadana, Ari, Icha, Mang Edi, Suarka, Deven, Nopi, Ady, Yulius, Kevin.

 – Dewa Murdika, Henri, Asih, Suweta, Ajik Ose, Ratih, Erlyn, Putri, Vita, Wahyuni, Ray, Samantha, Eelke, Riska, Surya, Juli, Dani, Wahyu, Novita, Sarce, Sesil, Michael.

Isn’t it funny how the natural world seems to work together in a cosmic symbiotic-buddy-up style? We think it's about time we did too.

Isn’t it funny how the natural world seems to work together in a cosmic symbiotic-buddy-up style?

Humanity, however, has veered off this path and gone alone down a trajectory of single-use habits, fly-things around the planet, nature’s ‘not-my-problem kind’ of way. The incredible natural world we share instinctively ‘knows’ what to do in harmony with their habitat and environment.

NXT follows this direction provided by nature, and it becomes our compass and guide. We aim to disrupt the imbalance of modern lifestyles and follow the lead shown by the natural world to make better choices for a happier future.

This magazine is the second in our Localised Rebellion series, and we hope sharing our antics helps inspire you that ‘doing good’ isn’t a constraint, it’s an opportunity.

Floral Study 2

Floral study 3

Floral Study

The Habitat Issue

Team Photo

Blessing The Land

Plans, Plans (Pelan, Pelan)

What Do You Call A Man With A Spade On His Head?

Paper Trails

Emerging Shapes

Eelke & Ray Looking At Things

Biodiversity Future Library

Creating With Gaya

The Sky's The Limit

Looking Like Something

Watch us step into the unknown, curtain twitcher.

Our journey to help shine a light on a new way of doing things has begun, and here you'll find all the snapshots for your wall of evidence...

What do they tell you? That SOMETHING is happening?

Welcome to the first stage of our reveal. We can't tell you anything, but we can show you some clues.

Our small restaurant Locavore is very much open. Click 

OUR NEW PROJECT IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION AND OPENING Q2 2023.

There’s a great motto that we hold close to our apron-adorned chests here at Locavore…

We think it's important to take some action which demonstrates that creativity and sustainability can work together without compromise. That’s our guiding light for the future of Locavore – for what is NXT.

So, welcome to the first stage of our reveal. Something to whet your appetites and stir your curious minds – some clues and sneak peeks. Get digging and stay tuned as we release more hints along the way...

The Under Construction Issue

Behind the Scenes                         

Infographics

Change can happen fast. We made these infographics back in 2021 as an example of the seismic shifts that the pandemic brought to our neighbourhood. Now that we’ve had a 4 million % increase in Bali visitors since last year with 50,000 tourists arriving per day in December… we’re no longer sure which was more dramatic. Bali’s decline or Bali’s comeback?

To undergo real change, to truly become something else... well, that can take some guts.

To embark on a journey of meaningful change requires leaving something behind. If you truly want to become something else, you have to give up a part of who you are now. 

It's simple logic, but it's not such a simple task. 
Change takes guts.

When a caterpillar undergoes metamorphosis, it digests itself... disintegrating its tissues into a protein-rich soup, which bags of cells called “imaginal discs” then cook up into a magical butterfly. We don’t know exactly how caterpillars feel about this process, but it sounds to us like a pretty brave thing to do.

In this sense, you could say that we are currently a big pot of Locavore soup. We have listened to the voices telling us "be more than just a restaurant". And we have found the courage to begin our own metamorphosis. 

Over the coming months, we are going to be stirring all our melted down parts and using our wildest imagination to transform ourselves into something better. 

We would be fibbing if we said that this has been easy peasy breezy lemon squeezy. 

But the world is hungry for change. 
Let’s feed it.

The Metamorphosis Issue

What The F Just Happened

Some things wander. Not far, just enough to end up where they don’t quite belong. Look closely, and you might find some of our team’s ‘essential items’ turning up in the most unlikely places within the NXT space.

Anyhow, now where did I put my sunglasses..?

Lost and Found - Kunz spoon

Lost and Found - Salted egg

Lost and Found - Sun hat

Lost and Found - Book

Lost and Found - Glasses

Lost and Found

Lost & Found (And Confused)

Spaghetti

Doughnuts

Egg Sandwiches

What does taking action to inspire others look like?

It could look a bit like this. Give it a go. 

Change is Hungry

We commissioned our talented illustrator friend Toys And Flowers to develop a "what if..." story about the future of food. True to form, he went the extra mile and conjured up a vision of a world where fruits became animals...

“Fruitanoids are fruit that have been ‘Genetically Modified Organism’ (GMO’d) to transform into animal figures, and no longer require to be planted into the soil. They just live on sun and water.  We hope this new invention inspires humans to give food more value, eat more fruit in a fun and quirky way, and in turn create a healthier population.”

– Toys And Flowers, Bali


Soursloths & Goldy Monkey

Applepillar & Salakobra

King Duri & Naga

Fruitonoids

Meet The Fruitonoids

The Sims

Mass Effect

Pacman

When you haven’t finished a project, but still need to talk about it, hmmm?

Here are some clues, brought to you through the medium of mad video games.

Video Games 

Like most sane people, we’re very inspired by 

. He makes us want to be a better bunch of humans and, luckily for everyone, he even tells us how to do it.

Back in 2017, Sir Dave shared the seven changes he thinks humanity needs to make in order to stop crash-burning our Earth:

Raise people out of poverty to slow population growth

If we want to fly this planet better, we should all be listening to him. But unless you’re in a position to change global policies (in which case please treat these as an urgent to-do list) these actions can feel a little out of reach. Creating no-fishing zones isn’t something many of us are capable of doing. Not meaningful ones anyhow. Your bathroom doesn’t count.

We are transforming Locavore into NXT because we realised we need to be the change that we want to see in the world. We’re going to be trying a bunch of different ways to work with nature as our ally and inspire a better way of running food systems.

If you feel the same way but don’t know where to start ticking off the ‘I’m a good human’ list, here's our suggestion of ten pretty easy things you can do.

Well, easier than changing global politics. Try them for a month and see how you go.


Total no brainer. Who doesn’t like free things? How you consume resources is giving a powerful statement as well helping the planet a little at a time. Every time you’re about to buy something new, check first that someone else isn’t giving it away. Join Facebook groups for second-hand furniture, clothing, technology… there’s one for everything. Go to Really Really Free Markets (RRFM) instead of shopping malls – or if there isn’t one where you live, set it up. Keep an eye out for boxes on the street full of goodies. That means they’re for the taking. Do a bit of research and go urban foraging for edible leaves and flowers. If you’re brave enough, go dumpster diving behind supermarkets and bakeries where they throw away totally edible (still-sealed) food. 

It goes without saying that giving away your own stuff is also a nice thing.

You’re throwing away your food scraps anyway – why not compost them and create new nutrients for the soil? Use a section of your garden or get a composting bin for your kitchen… or ask a neighbour with a compost pile if you can throw them on theirs. Sharing is caring. If you want to be a real pro, you can even get some pet worms to frolic around in there and help break it down for you. This will make the plants in your garden or pots thrive and be happier and healthier too. 


Okay, we lied. You should probably try this one for longer than a month. You probably won’t even be able to help yourself, because chickens are cute as well as mighty useful. They eat your leftovers, naturally till and fertilise the soil, get rid of unwanted insects (cockroaches we’re looking at you) AND provide nutritious sunny-side-ups in the morning without supporting factory farms. Win win win win. If you’ve never done this before, get the know-how by searching “keeping chickens” online. See if you can find a local one-stop-solution provider too, as you’ll need a bit of equipment, and some chickens of course…

4. Eat the stems and leaves of your vegetables.

A lot of perfectly edible nutritious food gets wasted when people peel their veggies. Try to be more careful about what you’re scrapping. Carrots, leeks, beets, asparagus… all these can be eaten from root to stem. The leaves of broccoli, cauliflower and celery are packed with good stuff. The stalks in herbs – basil, mint, parsley – can be thrown into the pot if you’re using them to cook. If there’s anything you’re not sure about, just look it up first. 

5. Put a brick in your toilet... or pee outside!


Water might well be the greatest currency one day. Putting a brick in your toilet makes it use less water per flush, and peeing outside reduces that amount to zero. If you go for the giving-back-to-mother-earth option, you’re also fertilising the soil, as urine is full of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Well done you. Some plants thrive more on pee than others – lime trees love it – so try to aim wisely. Of course, only in your own garden!


”Eco-friendly” and “sustainable” are buzzwords used very liberally these days as companies want to sound environmentally responsible and make you feel like a hero for buying their products. Try to avoid the half-truth traps and marketing tricks. The best way is to do some of your own research on anything calling itself environmentally friendly. Us included.

Are we joking though? We’ll stop short of giving you personal hygiene advice (shit shower shave and save the dolphins – who said that?) but many of us could help the water tables out with some easy changes to our laundry routines. If you’re washing your jeans after every wear out of habit rather than necessity, consider not doing that. There aren’t many noses at knee-level who care about bad smells anyway. Do you really sweat out every T-shirt every time you put it on? We’re just asking the question. You decide.

8. Only eat local food, wherever you are.

The closer your food source, the better. It’s fresher, it’s more likely to be seasonal, it supports your local community, it has less preservatives and bad stuff added to it, it’s less manufactured, it has a softer carbon footprint, and it’s probably way more culturally interesting. If you find yourself craving a dish that isn’t native to where you live, get creative. Lots of ingredients can be substituted when you put your thinking/chef’s hat on. Or if all else fails, consider moving to the home country of your favourite cuisine.


Long live the bees! And the butterflies, and the hummingbirds. And the wasps, we suppose. Having flowers and other pollinating plants around helps make a happy environment for nature to thrive. They don’t look half bad, either. All you need is soil, sunlight and water.


Or any fermented food. Fermentation is a super low-energy way to preserve ingredients that will go off soon and allows you to still eat your favourite ingredients when they’re out of season. Bacterial cultures are also great for your gut and for warding off illnesses, so you can be healthy as well as really cool.

Good luck! Time to make David Attenborough proud…

“Nature is our biggest ally and greatest inspiration”

All Content

Ten Ways To Make David Attenborough Proud

Local source: Buleleng & Karangasem
Category: Nut

Local source: Buleleng & Karangasem
Category: Fruit

Local source: Central Java
Category: Legume

BIO Library

Some libraries are filled with books, ours is packed with ingredients—wild herbs, exotic fruits and protein sources—spectacularly documented by our custom ‘photogrammetry’ studio to create ‘Research You Can Touch’.

The techie bit; software stitches together up to 120 photos of each ingredient from different angles and transforms them into a 3D model. The ‘Wow, that’s so cool’ bit; scroll-zoom-pinchable models that float in front of your eyes.

Experience it for yourself in the Biodiversity Interactive Open-Source, a.k.a. B.I.O. Library, found deep in the basement of Locavore NXT. Or 

B.I.O. Library

Fermenting

Fresh

Food is alive... even when you're not trying to transform ingredients into something very impressive for tonight's dinner party, they will shift shapes, textures (and smells) all by themselves and become an entirely different matter.

To capture this, we either made very big food or we shrank our photographer. We're not going to let you into all our secrets. But here's what we saw.

Honey I Shrank The Photographer

Our tasting menus don’t appear out of thin air. Before a dish makes it to the table, it lives a hundred lives—sketched, scrapped, reimagined and discussed into existence at our creative food laboratory and playground, LabX.

This is a little story told from two different perspectives on how a new tasting menu comes to life. From start to finish: the inspirations, the dead ends, the quiet breakthroughs and the big “aha” moments, told in the words of the ones who shape it, The Designer (Chef Eelke) and The Inventor (Head of LabX, Chef Alfonso).

“The plan was to have the menu ready by April, one month ahead of launch. That kind of flew out the window when Alfonso got hit with dengue. We’re a bit behind, but thankfully the LabX team has grown, so there’s more hands on deck now.”

How Our Ideas Become Edible

HOIBE - Opening

Introducing LocaLab

The Design

Welcome to a series about our Lab. A journey of new flavours, jars of mystery and bingo moments of edible discovery. (With a fair share of non-edible discoveries along the way).

Our culinary research and development kitchen is designed to explore the diversity of ingredients and techniques used to create new food ideas.

Driven by a desire to use all that nature provides, what hidden gems will we stumble upon?

And what has this got to do with what's NXT?

Journey of Flavours

TOTU - Pete Miso

TOTU - Bumbu Bali

TOTU - Flower Power

TOTU - Ugly Mushroom Garum

TOTU - Vinegar of the Month

Taste Of The Unknown

Some flavours are loud, others hide in the layers of potential within the unknown; the overlooked, the unusual, the discarded, the what-ifs. They demand a healthy dose of experimentation mixed with the energy of creativity and innovation to unlock their secrets.

Our LabX team starts each day by embracing the ‘unknown’ and walking the path of discovery (ahem... sometimes leading to dead ends and wrong turns), eventually emerging with some wonderful breakthroughs and results.

And then, on a regular basis, we choose one of these projects and turn it into a jar that you can have at home to sprinkle, stir or explore the magic it can do to food for yourself.

Step into the unknown with the wonderfully creative world of LabX products.

You can also browse and shop our range of LabX products 

TOTU - Opener

As the future of Nature hangs in the balance, so the future of our food system – from our seeds to our dinner tables – is a pretty big question mark right now.

Will there be any fish left? Will anyone know what a potato is? Will we even still eat with our mouths and taste with our tongues?

One restaurant reviewer’s experience fifty years from now sheds light on what the future of food might have in store for us. Don’t ask where we found it…

Restaurant Review
Saturday 3 October 2074

Table For 1 | 2 Free-Time Tokens | 8 Food Tokens | 45-Minute Dining Limit

I arrive early to my booking but late to my meal. For the first time in years, this is not due to how long it takes to walk down the stairs in a cooling suit because – hold on to your helmets – The Tasting Tunnels has 

No, instead my delay is entirely the fault of a restaurant host stuck on Swedish and a tiresome reset process, though management (quite rightly) don’t deduct these minutes from my allocated dining time.

Once I have smiled and nodded through frantic apologies, I am led through a dimly-lit room to my chair. Algae-bots can be left in the greenhouse by the entrance to charge – a nice improvement on outdoor waiting rooms. (Note: if you haven’t upgraded to the X-4000 yet, you’ll need to request an umbrella).

In contrast to my android friend, I find myself in a quiet, cave-like space. The flooring is standard epoxy and there aren’t any VR windows, but this sets a scene of anticipation rather than frugality. And it’s not all basic. The seats have anti-sweat covers, which I note and appreciate as I slip on the menu glasses.

Biometric profiles are automatically synced, and I find the dishes arranged in order of recommendation based on my last 30 days of consumption. I’ll leave it with you to decide whether this is helpful or infuriatingly pushy. I opt for re-sorting the seafood by Omega-3 content, meat by B12 and veggies by D –  i.e., based on which formulas are running low in my cupboard at home.

Audio accompaniment is “carefully curated by our soni-chefs and is vital to the flavour profile of each dish”, I am told, so cannot be customised.

This would be a shame if the flavour profiles turned out to be empty promises. Thankfully, they do not.

With waves of trip hop comes chargrilled jellyfish, served titillatingly cold on a briny seabed of nori mousse topped with tuna-teeth shavings. (The teeth shavings make a rare and welcome change from flavoured calcium balls, though I am reminded by my server not to chew. You have been warned).

A stack of greaseless ox-heart is taken to new heights with lashings of potato and rosemary ice cream, served with soundbites of grass rustling in the wind. Harissa chicken feet make love not war with dried pear corn-cous and upbeat folk music. Even the soft-bone sausages brought out to Mozart are the perfect example of a classic, though you’d be forgiven for deciding this is neither the time nor the place for food you can find at the market.

Veggie sharing platters show off the kitchen’s access to giant varieties and the latest hybrids. The two-metre cold-roasted carrot stuffed with asparbage and mini cormatoes is my personal favourite, the buttery sweetness offset perfectly with generous sprinklings of crispy salted mosquitos. Other newcomers include parsnions (tangy), fennelery (perfumy) and caulibarb (a little confusing).

To be sure, not everything hits the mark. The smoked “fish” in algae crumb is a reminder that it’s easy to get too carried away. This arrives at the table in a salt-ice pyramid backed by deep, booming vibrations which I can only assume are composed to bring an extra marine kick to the recipe. Upon inspection, the pyramid is covered with personalised motivational engravings. Mine includes a suggestion to visit Neptune again soon, a blatant exposure of the restaurant’s sponsors.

It’s a work of art, of course, as well as a flaunting of their latest 3D-printing technology.

But I should point out that a funeral march for a mummified haddock trapped in an ice tomb doesn’t make the “fish” any more real. I’d have been happier to forgo the drama of pretending that it’s not pretend-fish.

And then dessert arrives – and all is forgiven. A sculpture of tofu arrives in a playground of texture, from the lightest of sponges to crunchy bean-curd sheets, and a voice encourages me to enjoy my taste journey. As aromatic mists flow from the walls, ceiling and below the table I begin to eat and find myself transported through forests of blueberry, pools of white chocolate, clouds of ginger biscuit. Here, the parade of innovation has purpose… and is simply brilliant.

My chair provides a five-minute neck and shoulder massage before my time is up, and I am escorted back to the lift. Despite the reality that I’ll know nothing but Vita-Shakes for another month, a lingering sweetness tingles on my tongue all the way to street level and keeps a smile on my face. If the Plutonians haven’t invaded by then, I’ll be back for more.

Since the State Health Insurance Policy update announced in August all restaurant bookings require you to submit your Body-Type Certificate and Gastro Health Card prior to arrival. Any attempt to arrive without doing so may result in a food token penalty.

Restaurant Review

Food From The Future

Close Up Construction

Close Up Plants

Close Up Thrift Shop

Close Up Design Materials

Some of you may believe that a detective’s most important tool is their magnifying glass. Get all up in the grill of that evidence and you’re bound to find a missing clue that solves the mystery.

So, here it is. All the evidence in plain sight – right up close. Feast your physical eyes on these materials being used in our adventure and see what you find out. But don’t touch!

Feeling Analogue


If you’ve spent more than five minutes with Boss Kasida, you’ve probably laughed, learned something about a plant you’ve never heard of, and walked away feeling a little more upbeat about your day. 

For over 12 years, he’s been the heart of the Locavore kitchen and the soul of our foraging journey; mapping the land, building bridges with farmers and turning forest walks into menus. With a happy heart and muddy sandals, the ever cheerful ‘Boss’–as everyone calls him–is our go-to man when it comes to ingredients and all-thing related to the Balinese land. He's also the most humble guy, so we will have to hide copies of this magazine from him as he'll be so bashful to have been featured here under the spotlight.

"Nature doesn’t always give you time to double check. Sometimes you get it wrong. That’s part of learning."

What lessons have you learned from farmers or foraging that you couldn’t learn anywhere else?

One thing that’s stuck with me: traditional farmers in Bali don’t make much profit, but they have time. They live slow. They grow enough food for their family, join temple ceremonies, live with purpose. They may not have a lot of money, but their land is their insurance for the future. It’s enough. Nowadays, a lot of people don’t want to farm—they’d rather chase quick money. They sell or rent their land for villas, leave the fields. But being a farmer in Bali is a choice to live slow and steady.

Our suppliers are all farmers, and we’ve helped some of them grow into that role—like Pak Agung. At first, he didn’t want to send us anything because he was worried he couldn’t meet expectations. So we guided him.

From my friends in the forest, I’ve learned that contentment doesn’t come from money.

During the pandemic, people in cities were struggling. No work, no income. Meanwhile, people in the village were fine. They still had food. In fact, they were the ones feeding us.

What’s your secret to always staying cheerful?

I try to bring good energy into the room. Everyone has light and dark in them, I just choose to lean into the light more often. There’s not much point in sitting in sadness too long. I’d rather see the people around me happy.

If you want to feel happy, you’ve got to believe that every problem has a way out. Stay positive, don’t box yourself in, don’t let yourself feel small. Stand up, face whatever it is. When it’s done, it’s done. It’s not about surrendering—it’s about acceptance.

Foraging With Boss

Boss In The Wild

The world's most popular guess-what-they-ate game. As far as we know. 

Green letters are in the right place, yellow are in the wrong place, blanks are for all you smart alecks to figure out... and we've given you some big clues. Use the change in these (lucky or unlucky?) contestants' faces to spell out what food they've just eaten. 

More coming soon...

Foodle Part 1

FOODLE: Guess What They Ate

Leave A Trace

Shared Habitat, Shared Identity

Final Illusion

Landscape Yourself

It Is A Matter Of Taste

We're quite caught up these days with reducing our footprints. 

We try to be responsible by treading very softly. Our ultimate goal – the sign of any great environmentalist – is to hush through life without leaving a trace.

But maybe we have forgotten that there is another, much better, option.

Do leave one. Be what you do. Express ideas that do good. Get creative with your action.

Statement Pieces

Hot Hot Eat

Pots of broth, sate skewers, grilled cheese sandwiches, little fried delicious things. None of our favourite roadside snacks in Bali could exist without the transformative powers of fire and the hot sizzlin' heat of the cooker. 

But what's really going on under the grill? How toasty does it get when you're in charge of fanning the flames? What would the world of street food look like if you walked around with thermal vision?

SearchAllArticles

1. Team Photo

1. Behind the Scenes

1. What The F Just Happened

2. Lost & Found (And Confused)

2. Change is Hungry

2. Meet The Fruitonoids