Jellied Eel - London Vegan Societies

London's magazine for ethical eating
- JAN 2015
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Student food: beyond beans ❋ Future Farmers
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Farmers’
Photo by Mary McCartney for Meat Free Monday
p16
p12
4 Bulletin
6 Shopping Basket
6 Around Town
8 To Market Horniman Farmers’ Market
9 Feature Freshers’ fayre
10Urban Food Routes Star hip enterprise
12Glug! Our corking capital
13Feature Mind your peas and cues
14Feature A spade new world
16Greens with envy We must stop meating like this
17Food Hunt (Not) talking turkey
18The Eel Loves Askew Road
20Feature Have yourself a Jellied little Christmas
22Feature Click your own
23Stockist School’s out for supper
24What’s on
H
ello again and happy whatever. As this ‘Eel’s ‘life’ runs from
a long way before to a long way after the festive season, the
original idea was to avoid being too Christmassy. Well, as
soon as we got stuck in, that started to go out of the window a
bit because, well, there are all sorts of celebrations around the turn of the year
and food is such a big part of so many of them.
As a lot of you will be feasting at some point, we have a look at how tables
can be turned away from off-the-peg supermarket offerings, to celebrate some
of the finest good food and drink London has to offer instead. Meanwhile,
regular columnist Tom Hunt shares a recipe for a meatless alternative
centrepiece, and mulls over his New Year’s resolutions. And not that it’s
necessarily part of having a good time, corks are bound to be drawn, so we
sample a drop from some of the capital’s community urban winemakers.
Taking off our party hats for a mo, with the Urban Food Routes project in
full flow, we catch up with just three of the fab, community-focussed enterprises
gaining support to strengthen what they do. On campus we meet young people
licking the ketchup sandwich stereotype of students’ relationships with food,
and out in the fields and food
gardens, we find the next
generation of urban farmers. We
also hear that people benefitting
from food growing, cooking and
baking also include those living
with mental health issues.
We hope you enjoy this
issue and if you do, urge you to
become a subscriber to help our
charity to keep publishing it!
Courtesy of Forty Hall Vineyard
Mazi Mas courtesy of Plunkett Foundation
Tuck in
p10
Chris
Editor
@jelliedeelmag
The Jellied Eel is the quarterly magazine of London Food Link, part of the food and farming charity Sustain. Find out more, including how to subscribe and sustain us at londonfoodlink.org. Though we are careful when selecting features and advertisers, inclusion does not necessarily imply an endorsement.
Issue 45: November 2014 to January 2015 Editor: Chris Young Design: Becky Joynt Team ‘Eel: Lucy Bradley and Catherine Shepperdley
Advertising: Shakuntla Joshi Contributors: Johanna Ashby, Holly Brooke-Smith, Jo Creed, Kirsten Foster, Rosie Gilchrist, Tom Hunt, Chris
Mercer, Sue Msallem, Jennifer Parker, Dipa Patel, Anna Sbuttoni and Piers Telemacque Cover photo: Iranian chef Zoreh Shahrabi from
Urban Food Routes supported enterprise Mazí Mas by Sam Folan, samfolanphotography.4ormat.com
For all queries (advertising, sponsorship, stocking, editorial and whatnot) please email us: [email protected]
At the mo, we rely on voluntary writers and photographers to make the ‘Eel swim. If you’d like to showcase your work here to more than
50,000 lovers of good food from London’s local larder, please get in touch!
We love eels but they’re endangered, so
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jelliedeelmag
Flesh: out
The Vegan Lifestyle Association is a new organisation that aims to
support people who want to cut out, or at least reduce, all things
animal from their lives. Its website offers a range of free resources
and there will also be a membership option, with benefits
including product discounts, personal advice, recipes and videos.
veganlifestyleassoc.com
4
thejelliedeel.org
Vegan ‘cream’ tea by Chantal Denny
Melliferous musings
Spoonfuls of Honey is London-based
food writer Hattie Ellis’ latest tome.
More than simply
a cookbook of over 80 recipes from
around the world, this book also featu
res sections including tips on bee-friendly plan
ts for the garden; advice on how to
measure and cook with it; the diffe
rences between various
types of honey; and honey as medicine
.
Published by Pavilion, RRP £20
hattieellis.com @hattieellis
pavilionbooks.com @pavilionbo
oks
Are nds
frie tric ?
elec to wait between
WIN!
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thejelliedeel.org
5
shopping basket
in for a penny... W10
How about a hyperlocal hamper? There are bound
to be more on sale by the festive season, but as we were
writing this, here are the two we found.
Every Friday and Saturday on North
Portobello Road, The Penny Market
donates 50% of its profits to local
charities and social enterprises,
giving one penny back for every two
pence made. As the market grows
they plan to distribute donations into
other areas.
Brixton Village Hamper
thepennymarket.co.uk
Racking your brains for a deliciously different gift, on
that you can send to friends and family to show off the
bounty from your manor?
Cornercopia Homestore offers a Brixton Village Hamper that features a selection of its own items and
those made in the Brixton area. The goodies include:
Brixton Market Chutney, local alternative BP Sauce,
Brixton Botanicals Lavender Marmalade, Cornercopia
Fig Relish, Brixton Brewery Electric IPA and Ossie’s
Ginger Beer.
cornercopia.myshopify.com/collections/
homepage/products/made-in-brixton-sampler
Wild about food
W14
Located on the grounds of Addison Primary School, Brook
Green Wild Food Market is open every Saturday from 10am –
3pm. Fare on offer includes The Mushroom Table’s range of not
usually commercially-cultivated fungi, Murdoch & Sons’s free
range chicken, Wild Country Organics’ salads and vegetables,
Pick’s Organics’ meat and veg, and Dibs & Dabs crab.
Interactive food demos will feature seasonal foods and offer
shoppers the opportunity to learn classic cooking techniques.
thewildfoodmarket.flavors.me
Run by long-time local Harry Davies, The De Beauvoir Deli has created the Hackney Hamper to
showcase the best of the borough’s artisan producers. For £70, the 14-inch hamper features
Five Points Brewery beers, London Borough of Jam
preserves, Roasting Shed coffee, Joe’s tea, Mini Magoo granola and Fatties caramels.
thedebeauvoirdeli.co.uk/shop/the-hackney-hamper
6
thejelliedeel.org
Heron Square Market courtesy
Reel Farmers Market
Hackney Hamper
Phoenix in Heron Square
TW9
With a mission in Richmond to ‘re-launch the market at Heron
Square and bring it back to life,’ farmer Alex Kyriacou’s Reel
Farmers Markets has a ‘strong vision of how food should be
grown, reared and served.’ Producers at the re-vitalised trading
post include local free-range butcher and charcutier Food On
The Hill, Wildes Cheese, Blackmoor Game, The Portland
Scallop Company, and The Ginger Beer Engine.
reelfarmers.co.uk
around town
As you like it
E9
Compiled by
Lucy Bradley &
Catherine Shepperdley
Café Morningside is a newly-opened
non-profit community kitchen that
uses surplus food to create its fare.
The café serves healthy, fresh meals,
hot drinks and take away lunch boxes
on a pay-as-you-like basis.
cafemorningside.wordpress.
com/category/cafemorningside
Rock down to SW9
Electric Avenue
As part of the development of the
Saturday market on Brixton Station
Road, the Brixton Society has
introduced a monthly market heritage
walk on the second Saturday of the
month. Each walk starts from the
corner of Beehive Place and Brixton
Station Road at 2.30pm and takes in
the history of the local street markets
and arcades. Tickets are £3, which
can be booked online in advance.
brixtonsociety.org.uk/brixtonmarkets-heritage-walks
Meat-free eatery W1W
Recently-opened veg restaurant Ethos allows you
to build your own eat-in or take-away plate as you
please and pay by weight. Signature dishes include
Hyderabadi scotch eggs, meatless BBQ ‘ribs’,
vibrant salads and cake balls.
ethosfoods.com
thejelliedeel.org 7
Horniman Farmers’ Market by
Ludovic Des Cognets Photography
To market
Horniman Museum and Gardens,
100 London Road, SE23 3PQ
Every Saturday 9am-1.30pm
horniman.ac.uk/visit/events/
horniman-farmers-market
@gkandc
Food markets
around London
Horniman
Farmers’ Market
S
et amidst 16 acres of gardens
at the Horniman Museum in
Forest Hill, with views across
London, this is quite possibly
the capital’s most picturesque market and
a destination in its own right. The market
is relatively small but still offers plenty to
attract local people and visitors alike. Shoppers can stock up on fruit and
vegetables from the Manor Farm Shop
and Wild Country Organics, organic meat
from Galileo Farm, a selection of British
cheeses from That Cheese Stall, Real Bread
from Soil Association-Certified Aston’s
Organic Bakery, and even pints of milk
from Northiam Dairy on an wonderfully
un-London honesty basis - just put your
money in the wooden collection box.
Visitors to the museum or anyone
simply keen to admire the scenic views and
enjoy a picnic lunch are also catered for
with an impressive array of ready-to-eat
foods. Those after a savoury pastry hit can
choose homemade sausage rolls made from
responsibly sourced free range meat and
dairy from Little Jack Horner, or the chorizo
scotch eggs and lentil pies from The Pie
Crust. Equally popular is the aromatic and
spicy Sri Lankan chicken curry, roti and daal
set from Margosa using locally-sourced and
8
thejelliedeel.org
fairly traded ingredients, making a complete
lunch or family supper treat. Sweet tooths can
try Mr Muffinto’s spiced plum muffins, made
from locally-sourced and organic ingredients;
and the pretty range of organic cupcakes from
Lovejojo.
Even the kids will be enterrained with
the Animal Walk right next door, home to
alpacas, goats, sheep, guinea pigs and an
eye-catchingly huge rabbit. while naturally fertilising the land used for
the farm’s fruit trees. The results speak for
themselves, from the crisp apples that truly
taste of apple, to the premium quality eggs
and produce.
by Johanna Ashby
❋ Featured stallholder
Tom McInerney:
Brambletye Fruit Farm
It is not just stallholder Tom’s friendly face
but the intriguing billboards featuring hens
wandering freely amongst orchardsthat
catches the eye at the Brambletye Fruit Farm
stall. One of only a handful of biodynamic
farms in the UK, Brambletye in East Sussex
was the brainchild of Stein Leenders and Noor
Bunnik only thirteen years ago. Both were
committed to adopting farming methods
and practices aimed at maintaining the
ecosystem’s natural balance and high welfare
standards. Bees are kept for pollination and chickens are
free to roam and source their food of choice,
P hoto
b y J oha nna A sh
by
The Hive Café by Lewis Cotter
Feature
organic food production, it also has to tackle
our colossal food waste challenges. As
such, NUS champions initiatives that slash
needless binning on campus.
At Royal Holloway, students are building
relationships between on-campus cafés and
relief organisations in the local community.
Their scheme collects perfectly edible
surplus food, which otherwise would have
been wasted, and diverts it to organisations
like local homeless shelters and refugee
centres. In doing so, they demonstrate that
eliminating food waste can also help build
more resilient local communities.
“We have the opportunity to make a
tangible difference not only to the culture
of waste at our universities but the lives of
those in food poverty across the country,”
explains the scheme’s co-founder Stephen
Atkinson. “All it takes is a simple process
of redistribution to see nutritious, delicious
food fill bellies and not bin bags.”
Freshers’ fayre
Imagine a student eating his or
her dinner. Be honest - what are
you picturing? Beans on toast?
Instant noodles with ketchup?
Piers Telemacque says that
this sort of stereotype is one that
should be fading fast.
T
he image of students barely
subsisting on beige carbs is
a longstanding stereotype.
Today, however, more and
more students are taking ownership over
their own food system; helping themselves
and their wider communities to access
nutritious, sustainable food, often grown
following organic principles.
Hugely ambitious
At the University of Roehampton Students’
Union (SU), the NUS is supporting a
hugely ambitious food growing initiative
that reaches across the entire campus,
engaging both staff and students. Within
the university’s extensive grounds, the
Growhampton enterprise has established a
wide range of growing spaces. It puts food
right at the heart of educational, residential
and social spaces, and makes horticulture an
everyday part of campus life for everyone.
“
At the centre of campus is the Hive Café,
recently nominated for a Soil Association
award. Built from reused shipping containers
and filled with upcycled furniture, it turns
the campus-grown produce into delicious
meals, reinvesting its profits in the expansion
of the Growhampton project. It is now
moving into honey production, and free
range chicken rearing for fresh eggs. “Our
planet is faced with so much destruction
caused by human hands that it’s about time
we make a change by caring for ourselves
and our planet,” says Roehampton SU’s
ethical and environmental officer, Celia
Briseid. “Something as simple as growing
your own food is such a major part of that.”
There are loads of reasons why students
are reclaiming the food system, not least that
nearly 80 percent of them are as concerned
about the effects of climate change as
Celia. We might think of students scouring
supermarkets for low prices above anything
else, but an NUS survey conducted in 2012
found that 60 percent of students try to buy
local and seasonal produce when possible,
and that over half would change their eating
habits if they knew more about their food’s
environmental impact. We have the opportunity
to make a tangible
difference”
Far tastier than
beans on toast
Student-led action for sustainable food is
becoming more and more influential, and
we’re becoming widely recognised for our
achievements. This year NUS was honoured
to host its own garden at the Chelsea Flower
Show, showcasing how campus gardens
can integrate into education, enterprise and
local communities. They were especially
thrilled to be decorated with the prestigious
Silver-Gilt medal in the Discovery category,
showing how far the real student food scene
has travelled from the empty pizza boxes
and potato waffles in people’s imaginations.
In institutions across London, students
are at the heart of the movement for a better
food system, taking production back into
their own hands, and fighting to eliminate
waste. It’s as good for the climate as it is for
communities. And it’s far tastier than beans
on toast.
Piers Telemacque, is NUS vice president
for society and citizenship.
growhampton.com @growhampton
royalholloway.ac.uk/volunteering/
student-ledprojects.aspx
Simple process
But a sustainable food system can’t just
concentrate on production. Alongside urban,
thejelliedeel.org
9
urban food routes
Star hip enterprise
Holly Brooke-Smith speaks to people behind three enterprises
being supported by Urban Food Routes to find out what they do and how the scheme has helped them.
M
azí Mas, Boss Hog and
Rejuce are three of the
32 Urban Food Routes
enterprises that are
helping Londoners think about food and
the community in a fresh light. They
work in different ways, but have all
had a helping hand from the Plunkett
Foundation.
Squeezy does it
In an east London warehouse, Tom
Fletcher has been hatching big plans for
his business, Rejuce. “I’m quite far ahead
with my strategy. It’s very easy to think
about all the things you can do when
you spend a lot of time juicing fruit on
your own,” he laughs. Tom takes edible
10
thejelliedeel.org
fruit and veg that doesn’t meet retailers’
aesthetic standards and saves it from bins
by juicing it. He has created a filtering
system with the UK’s biggest fruit and
veg market that sorts traditional ‘waste’
to pick out anything juiceable. He turns
up with a van, takes the food back to his
warehouse and starts squeezing.
Rejuce bottles are currently stocked
in about 15 London cafés and delis and
Tom has gradually been upsizing his
machinery. “At first I had a juicing wheel
gaffer-taped to my hand and a sink full of
oranges. Then I bought a tiny press you
use with both hands at once, then I got a
machine you can throw a whole box of
fruit into and juice 60 litres an hour. Now
I’ve got a machine that you can throw
anything into, and it will juice 200 litres
an hour.”
Plunkett funding is allowing Tom to go
a step further: “The money will got to an
even bigger juicer from Mexico, which will
go in a fully-kitted lorry kitchen. The idea
is to go to the source where food is being
wasted, juice it onsite then drive to the
bottling centre – which would enable me
to sell to supermarkets.” This would also
give Tom the chance to spread the Rejuce
word. “I’ll be able to drive up to festivals
and just open the back of the lorry. People
will be able to come in and see the kitchen
and see exactly what it is they’re drinking
– it’ll be brilliant!”
“
Supporting homeless
people has always been
close to my heart”
Photos: above - Mazí Mas. Facing page: top to bottom
- Tom Fletcher from Rejuce by Vibol Moeung; Mazí Mas
plating up; Boss Hog by Vibol Moeung
Battercake boars
Meanwhile, on the other side of the river,
solicitor-turned-waffle maker Seb Rounds
is at the very beginning of creating his
business. “Before the funding, Boss Hog
didn’t really exist – the grant was the real
catalyst that got everything running,” he
explains. Boss Hog Waffles is based on
a ‘one for one’ model: each pulled porktopped waffle Seb sells funds a meal at
Brixton Soup Kitchen for someone who is
homeless.
It’s early days for Boss Hog, so the
Plunkett Foundation’s funding went
towards the real nuts and bolts of
establishing the business – buying
a gazebo, waffle irons and cooking
equipment. “It was actually while I was
filling in the application form that I
realised how great it would be to make
this happen. I’d had the idea for about
two years but it wasn’t until I’d won the
funding that I was able to do anything
about it,” Seb explains. “Supporting
homeless people has always been close to
my heart. It’s easy to think these are guys
who’ve made the wrong decisions, but lots
of people have simply been played a bad
card and it’s been really hard to get back
up.”
Ultimately Seb would like to extend
Boss Hog to work even more closely with
homeless people. “It would be great to
have a restaurant where we can take on
volunteers from the soup kitchen and
provide some kind of job training and
experience.”
Gastronomic migrants
Mazí Mas (Greek for ‘with us’) recruits
migrant and refugee women in London
and provides them with the opportunity
to cook at pop-up spaces and stalls across
the capital. This social enterprise is
the brainchild of Niki Kopcke, whose
inspiration was her Greek godmother’s
dream of opening a bakery that went
unfulfilled. Niki wanted to create a way
for skilled women with no window of
opportunity to put their culinary talents
“
Here is an opportunity,
seize it!”
into practice. The aim is to give them the
experience and confidence to set up their
own food business.
The team arranges regular events for
their six chefs and their goal is to have
a permanent restaurant. It creates an
opportunity for start-up entrepreneurs
without the normal risks of going it alone
in the food world. “We were set up in
October 2012 and have been working on
a pop-up basis, and now we’re doing some
more long-term residencies,” explains
Mara Klein, one of the six-strong team of
volunteers who run the enterprise. “We
used the Plunkett Foundation funding
for a residency at the Yard Theatre in
Hackney Wick earlier this year. They
also assigned us a business advisor, it’s so
useful to have someone from the outside
to talk to!”
Having spent a morning with one of
the chefs serving classic home-cooked
Peruvian food at east London’s Netil
market, it’s clear to me that this is an
enterprise with a big heart. As Niki
explains: “We say to our chefs, ‘Here is
an opportunity, seize it! We know you're
skilled, we know you're capable, we know
there is demand for your skill and we’ll
help connect you to it.’ People may come
to Mazí Mas because they like our social
mission, but ultimately they keep coming
back because the food is amazing!”
urbanfoodroutes.org.uk
#urbanfoodroutes
facebook.com/rejuce
@rejuce_
bosshogwaffles.com
@bosshogwaffles
mazimas.co.uk
@eatmazimas
Urban Food Routes
Urban Food Routes helps small food enterprises to thrive by
providing business advice and funding, for the benefit of
both the enterprises and people in their local communities.
Its initiatives between March 2014 and 2015 also include
Urban Food Fortnight, the Urban Food Awards, The Big
Dig and support for this here periodical. The project is
co-ordinated by the Plunkett Foundation, with help from
Growing Communities and London Food Link, and funded
by the Mayor of London and Seeds of Change. www.urbanfoodroutes.org.uk
thejelliedeel.org
11
Glug!
l
a
t
i
p
a
c
g
n
i
k
r
o
Our c
Could Enfield one day rank alongside Bordeaux, Champagne and
Rioja? Mayor Boris has been heard saying he wants to serve the
first London sparkling wine. Chris Mercer meets people behind
the community schemes that could be in the running to make it.
L
ondon is alive with the sound of
squelching grapes, as community
winemaking schemes take root across
our capital.
It’s thought that the first vines in southern
England were planted by the Romans, yet it’s
taken around 2,000 years for the idea to stick.
In the land of drizzly summers and warm beer,
English wine is now flourishing. Londoners are
playing their part via vineyard projects and
schemes that allow the city’s growers to
pool their resources.
Grape expectations
Organiclea’s Hawkwood Winery
in Chingford has around 450
vines. In addition, they hold
community days on which they
invite people to bring in grapes
they’ve grown themselves. “There’s a
lot of grape growing in London gardens,”
said vineyard co-ordinator Marko Bojcun.
Growers can expect five bottles of wine
for every seven kilos, around a bucketful,
of grapes. Last year, in little more than a
well-equipped broom cupboard, Bojcun
conjured up wine from half a tonne of grapes
handed in by 39 people, who each paid pay
£6 a bottle for this alchemy.
South of the river, we
find Richard Sharp of the
Urban Wine Company,
which since 2008 has
produced the pioneering
Chateau Tooting label
by collecting London’s
unloved grapes .
“We got 75 people
last year. One guy
and his girlfriend
came all the
way down
from Kentish
Town with
a bucket
full.” 12
thejelliedeel.org
A vine romance
There is a strong social element to wine
drinking. But, what about winemaking?
The ten acres of vines at Forty Hall
Vineyard, a not-for-profit social enterprise
in Enfield, are tended by 60 volunteers.
“For a lot of them, it’s a way of keeping
socially connected,” said vineyard manager
Sarah Vaughan-Roberts. “Some have mental
health issues, some are retired and some are
recovering from a bereavement. It’s real work,
but a lot of people find coming to the vineyard
really helpful.” Vaughan-Roberts has trialled
ecotherapy treatment, which is backed by the
mental health charity Mind, and plans to seek
funding for a second pilot scheme.
Organiclea works in a similar way, often
employing volunteers struggling to find paid
jobs. Meanwhile, Sharp said the original idea
behind the Urban Wine Company was inspired
by the “community feel” of the wine harvests
in southern France, and they are now working
with the Phoenix Community Housing
Association.
“
There’s a lot of grape
growing in London gardens”
What about the wines?
“We are very serious about the quality of our
wine,” said Vaughan-Roberts. The Forty Hall
estate has Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot
Meunier, which are the typical varieties used
in Champagne, and winemaker Will Davenport
plans to make a sparkling wine from the Forty
Hall grapes for the first time this year.
“This year is looking good, because grapes
are very ripe,” said Marko Bojcun. “Our wines
are unfiltered, and they’re suitable for vegans.”
He described the red and white wines made
from gardeners’ grapes as ‘perfectly palatable’.
And in the future? “We are all learning.
We want to make the optimum wine that is
really authentic to London,” which, he added,
means “there’s practically no food miles
involved in this.”
fortyhallvineyard.org.uk @fhvlondon
organiclea.org.uk @organiclea
urbanwineco.co.uk @urbanwineuk
Richard Sharp with grapes for the Urban Wine Company
Mind your
peas and cues
feature
It is well known that eating real, wholesome food is key to good physical
health. Jo Creed finds out there is increasing recognition that growing
and cooking can have benefits for our mental wellbeing, too.
Well digging
A report published in April 2014 as part
of Sustain and Garden Organic’s Growing
Health project highlights that for people with
mental health problems, regular involvement
in gardening and community food-growing
projects can reduce stress, reduce reliance on
medication, alleviate some symptoms and
provide social interaction.
London is home to a number of these
projects, including Sydenham Garden.
Here residents of Lewisham and Bromley
who suffer from social exclusion due to
poor mental health are supported through
gardening, arts and cooking in a project
partly funded by NHS Lewisham. Project
co-worker Steph has found it to provide “a
grounded non-judgmental, safe space.” Here
she says she has gained useful skills and
experiences, which are helping her to “heal
and feel comfortable around people again.”
According to 2013-2014 results, taking
part in Sydenham Garden’s Sow and Grow
project had a significant impact on coworkers suffering from dementia, 77% of
them reported a positive development in
their mental wellbeing; 85% recorded a
positive change to their feeling of social
inclusion and interaction; and 92% recorded
a positive change in their quality of life.
“I recommend it to anybody who world
benefit from such a programme”, says
Ronald, another Sydenham Garden coworker.
Positive impact
This improved quality of life is a benefit
echoed by patrons of the Dragon Café at
Borough. The café is part of the charity
Mental Fight Club, which offers a range
of free activities for people who have
suffered mental health issues, including
preparing food, food demos and FoodWorks
meetings, which explore our relationship
with food. According to kitchen manager
Sally Scantlebury, being involved with food,
and eating good food has a direct positive
impact on people’s mental wellbeing.
Well bread
The Rising Up report cites baking Real
Bread as an activity that can help some
people to relax and feel calmer; provide
a sense of purpose and achievement; and
often the chance to join a team that makes
a meaningful contribution to the local
community and economy.
A perfect example of this is The Better
Health Bakery in Haggerston. Set up by
Centre for Better Health charity in late 2012
and launched fully in early 2013, this social
enterprise quickly became known not only
for its sourdough Real Bread (it was named
by the Financial Times as one of the top
five artisan bakeries in London) but also
for its work with people recovering from
mental ill-health. During a three-month
programme, trainees re-discover or learn
technical and social skills, working within a
team to produce and supply great bread.
In its first year 45 trainees completed
the programme. Each benefitted from the
support from staff and volunteers, as well
as further opportunities that range from
socialising with customers in the bakery to
experience delivering and selling produce.
One of the trainees, Philip Georgiou, told me
he found that working hands-on with food
and seeing the process of raw ingredients
becoming a beautiful end product is
“relaxing, therapeutic and calming.” At the
heart of all of this, as so aptly put by bakery
project manager, Joanna Bojczewska,
“making good food is just basic.”
With a focus often on socialising, as
well as learning about food and finding the
satisfaction of cooking and growing, there
is a lot to be said for ‘culinary and growing
therapy’ and models such as these certainly
deserve much more attention.
Growing Health:
sustainweb.org/publications/info/293
Rising Up:
sustainweb.org/publications/info/284
fsydenhamgarden.org.uk
@SydenhamGarden
dragoncafe.co.uk
@thedragoncafe
mentalfightclub.com
@MFC2014
betterhealthbakery.org.uk
@BakeryHealth
thejelliedeel.org
13
Photo by Joanna Bojczewska
F
or many people, food
production provides a
therapeutic experience,
whether that’s growing,
cooking from scratch, or mastering the art
and science of baking. But getting hands-on
with food can go much further than finding
a little solace in the kitchen: it can have a
profound positive impact on mental health
issues, which according to the Mental
Health Foundation are experienced by one
in four British adults in any one year.
Feature
A spade new world
We’ve often written about Londoners embracing food growing as a
way to take more control over what they eat. Now Jennifer Parker
looks at some who are taking this further to make a living as food
producers, and what this might mean for the future of farming.
F
arming is a challenging
profession, with long hours, a
lot physical work, and many
growers struggling to make a
living under the constant pressure to keep
their prices low. With DEFRA figures showing
the average age of farmers to be nearly 60,
there has been much discussion about the
need to attract young people into agriculture.
While some fear traditional agriculture
is a dying trade, could hope for the
future of farming lie in the rise of urban
initiatives?
The next generation
Sustain’s Capital Growth team has recently
teamed up with Growing Communities’
head grower to produce Future Farmers:
A guide to running an urban food growing
traineeship. Packed with practical advice,
it’s designed to help existing food growing
enterprises offer structured, hands-on
schemes to meet the demand from people
14
thejelliedeel.org
wanting to plough their own furrows as
the next generation of urban farmers.
Roots to work
A great example of an urban farm set up to
provide work experience and employment
opportunities, while bringing derelict
land back into productive use for food
growing, is Cultivate London. With a focus
on helping unemployed young people,
Cultivate develops people’s employability
by engaging them in valuable work on the
farm.
Though some of the trainees simply
want something, anything, that will
get them into work, explains Adrienne
Attorp, Cultivate’s General Manager, “we
are getting more and more young people
approaching us specifically because they
are interested in the growing side of
things, which is really encouraging for us
from the point of view of engaging people
in urban farming.”
Career choice
Many other London schemes, such as
Sutton Community Farm, are getting
more and more applications from people
between their mid-twenties and thirties,
who are re-evaluating their career choices
or in between jobs.
One such person is Ida Fabrizio, a
keen, amateur food grower, who did a
traineeship (in her case with Growing
Communities - see ‘Eel 43) to discover
how to make a living from it. She can
now be found at a seemingly unlikely
base, The Castle Climbing Centre in Stoke
Newington. Here she grows high-value
salad and other crops for local restaurants
and Growing Communities box scheme, as
well as running the Castle’s kitchen garden
for its café.
Ida stresses that “the practical
experience you can get working on a
community farm is as valuable as any
academic qualification! Today, we are
lacking important practical skills being
taught in schools.” She adds: “I could now
go up to a restaurant and say ‘I can grow
salad for you.’ I wouldn’t have had that
confidence to do that before.”
Cultivate London
by Khanh Chung Photography
Ida has passed on her skills to Farook
Bhahaba, who did a traineeship at the
Castle after feeling disenchanted with
his career in construction. “It was an
incredible way to gain experience and
learn how food growing, sustainable
agricultural practices and community
engagement can make a positive impact
on residents, schools and even local
business.”
Making it professional
In order to inspire people to become our
farmers of the future, they need support
in developing the capability to build
successful businesses, as well as clear
career pathways in agriculture that offer
prospects of growth and reward.
The traineeships advocated by the
Future Farmers guide are part of this
picture, providing essential mentoring
opportunities and a valuable alternative,
or companion, to formal qualifications.
Capital Growth manager Sarah Williams
says: “This guide is about sharing the
experiences of organisations like Growing
Communities and Organiclea, who have
pioneered food growing traineeships as a
route for people to get the skills needed to
take on the urban farming challenge.”
Courtesy of Sutton Community Farm
So what does this all mean
for the future of farming?
While many farmers face a tough time,
British agriculture is still viable and continues
to evolve and find new opportunities. The
Soil Association recently reported a growth in
the organic farming sector, and producers are
increasingly able to seize back control and get
fair prices for their produce as more shoppers
turn to box schemes, farmers’ markets and
other alternatives to supermarkets – see
feature on p22.
And though urban farming can’t feed the
nation, it can make a valuable contribution
to our tables, raise the profile of farming in
general as a business opportunity, and even
act as a greenhouse for some of the next
generation of rural farmers.
Rachel Harries runs the Soil Association’s
Future Growers scheme, which provides
traineeships and apprenticeships on
organic farms around the country. Many of
their future growers are not from farming
backgrounds, but may have done seasonal
farm work or been involved in other food
growing schemes. “What is important about
our scheme is that it takes people’s interest
in farming a step further,” she says of the
two year, work-based programme, on which
people are paid as they learn the realities of
commercial agriculture on full-scale farms. Sam Smith from Sutton Community
Farm says “we're particularly interested in
what happens in the area between urban
and rural, on the greenbelt around London,
where there's an opportunity for much
more food growing. Here, we believe it's
possible to work a business model that
balances commercial production with
community farming that engages with
those from urban environments.”
Sarah Williams concludes “we know
it’s not easy to be a farmer in the current
climate but the growing interest is
reassuring, as we could be seeing the next
generation of farmers on the city horizon.”
Following its launch at InMidTown’s
city centre rooftop food garden, Future
Farmers is now available to download at
sustainweb.org/publications/info/307
growingcommunities.org @growcomm
cultivatelondon.org @cultiv8london
castle-climbing.co.uk/garden
@thecastlegarden
suttoncommunityfarm.org.uk
@suttonfarm
soilassociation.org/futuregrowers
thejelliedeel.org
thejelliedeel.org
1515
Greens with envy
We must stop
meating like
this…
Monday rolls round, and for
many people it means shaking
off a weekend of binging,
boozing and laziness. Rosie
Gilchrist says that it’s also
a day on which increasing
numbers of otherwise
omnivorous Londoners are
kickin’ the chicken and
shunning the steer.
A hunger for the
herbivorous
M
eatless Mondays
began as a US Food
Administration
initiative during the
First World War and has had several
revivals since, the most recent starting in
2003. On this side of the pond, 15 June
2014 saw a host of celebrities helping
Paul, Mary and Stella McCartney to
celebrate the fifth anniversary of the
Meat Free Monday (MFM) campaign they
launched in St. James’s Park in 2009.
16
thejelliedeel.org
Meat Free Monday (MFM) isn’t just
about the quantifiable reduction in
consuming meat, it is also a chance to cut
down on spending, improve you heath
as well as a chance to listen to those
voices saying we all need to think more
carefully about the human, animal and
environmental costs of meat. Plumping
for a plant-based diet on at least one day
a week is an active way to demonstrate a
conscientious choice.
The London Vegan and Vegetarian
Society is working to encourage 100,000
Londoners take the simple step of trying
to stay meat-free on at least one Monday
by 2020.
One of the ways the Society hopes to
reach the target is by getting every local
authority to pledge its support. The first
to sign up was Southwark council, which
in July voted to support the promotion
of MFM in the borough’s schools, council
buildings and to council staff. If you’re
lucky enough to reside in SE1 there’ll
be lots to get involved in, and Lambeth
is the next target. As for everyone else,
why not check out the website and see
how you can initiate events in your own
community?
Meat Free Monday is already running
in some of London’s schools including
one for schools. London schools that offer
MFM menus include Campsbourne School
in Haringey, Claremont High School
in Harrow, Coldfall Primary School in
Muswell Hill, and Preston Manor High
School in Wembley. If you are part of a
school community, whether as a parent,
teacher, governor, caterer or student, you
can find guidance on how to join them on
the website.
One flesh-free day out of seven isn’t
much to sacrifice, yet it is enough to make
a difference. And once you’ve started the
week off well, could Tuesday be the same?
meatfreemondays.com
@meatfreemonday
londonvegansocieties.com/lmfm
@LondonVeganSoc
Photo by Mary McCartney for Meat Free Monday
(Not)
talking turkey
Tom’s New Year’s
resolutions
Every year I make several New Year’s
resolutions to quit something, and
I never seem to keep them, totally
quitting meat being one of them. This
year I've decided to make resolutions
about starting new things. Here’s my
well-meaning list:
Restaurateur and food writer Tom Hunt says that as a
‘vegcentric omnivore,’ he’s decided to make vegetables
the hero of his festive table this year.
F
orgive me for being so frank, but I am bored stiff of the standard meaty roast,
even with all its trimmings. If you're not ready to join me in ridding your table
of meat altogether, then how about buying a little less and supplementing it
with some wild and wonderful new vegetable recipes.
This year I’ll be roasting parsnips, potatoes and carrots in a standard fashion, then
dressing them in olive oil with heaps of winter herbs like rosemary and sage. The real star
of the show, though, will be my wickedly rich walnut and chickpea stuffed squash with
wild mushroom gravy. I’m hoping this will be wicked enough to tempt the carnivores to
the green side. •
•
•
•
We’d love to hear your New Year’s
resolutions that Tom (and all of us)
could consider adding! Tweet us
@jelliedeelmag and @tomsfeast
Serves 4
This dish is full of vibrant seasonal fruit and vegetables. The cranberries bring a sweetness that
feels festive and suitably decadent whilst keeping it healthy.
For the slaw
• 2 clementines, peeled and pulled into
segments
• 2 celery sticks, roughly sliced
• 100g Brussels sprouts, finely sliced
Cook more! (and for others)
Start a compost heap
Eat more vegetables
Find a local community farm to
volunteer at
I’d like to add some more resolutions
to my list. What do you suggest?
Walnut and chickpea stuffed squash with winter slaw
Ingredients
For the stuffed squash
• 2–4 mini pumpkins or winter squash
• Leaves from a small bunch of sage
• Olive oil
• 1 bulb garlic, broken into separate cloves
• 200g mushrooms, roughly diced
• 1 tsp coriander seeds
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 240g tinned chickpeas (about 90g dried,
if you’re cooking your own)
• 100g cranberries or raisins
• 100g walnuts, crushed
• 6 sprigs of parsley, stalks finely and
leaves roughly chopped
Photo by Tom Hunt
food hunt
• 1 small red onion, finely sliced
• leaves from 2 sprigs of mint, roughly
chopped
• 4 sprigs of parsley, stalks finely and
leaves roughly chopped
a medium heat in olive oil with the
garlic, coriander, and cumin seeds for
10 minutes. Add the cooked chickpeas,
walnuts, cranberries, and parsley and
mix together, crushing the chickpeas a
little as you do so.
• Stuff the hollowed pumpkin with the
mixture and place the lid back on top.
Put back in the oven for another 15–20
minutes.
• To make the slaw, mix all of the
ingredients together and season with
salt and pepper.
• I like to serve the slaw alongside the
stuffed pumpkins with roast potatoes
and mushroom gravy. Method
• Preheat the oven to 200°C
• Remove the tops from the squash and
pumpkins and gouge out the seeds with
a spoon.
• Place the pumpkins with their lids on
a baking tray with a sage leaf inside
each one, and place the garlic cloves
alongside. Drizzle with olive oil and
season generously with salt and pepper.
Put in the oven for 30 minutes or until
the flesh begins to soften.
• Meanwhile, sauté the mushrooms on
A good gravy is essential. Try frying up
some diced mushrooms and onions with
some dried ceps, then add a little veg stock
and simmer well.
thejelliedeel.org
17
the eel loves...
Askew Road
The good food scene in this far-flung corner of Shepherd’s Bush has
really snowballed in recent years. Kirsten Foster finds that, from
purveyors of rare breed meat, to Real Bread, Holland Park honey
and organic Serbian juices, a growing number of small businesses
are making all the difference to W12's conscientious consumers.
BAKERY & CAFE: Laveli
104 Askew Rd, W12 9BL
Slovakian couple Veronika and Libor
laid this keystone in Askew Road's foodie
revolution when they took over this bakery
in 2008. Now it's hard to get a table in this
lively, friendly space to enjoy free-range
eggs benedict, sausages from neighbouring
Ginger Pig, home-made granola or one
of the countless pastries, cakes and Real
Breads all made in-house from scratch.
lavelibakery.com
@lavelibakery
OFF-LICENCE: Askewine
84 Askew Rd, W12 9BJ
Owner Mallek Mohamed is a
neighbourhood fixture. Having managed
an off-licence on this site since the early
nineties, when the most recent chain that
owned the shop folded in 2009, he decided
to take up the reins himself. Mallek is ready
to give advice on everything from the latest
London craft brewery pale ale to the best
local couscous (he says Adam's Café, in case
you’re wondering). An array of natural,
organic and biodynamic wines (Chateau
18
thejelliedeel.org
Ksara, Gerard Bertrand, Gran Cerdo…), a
wide range of locally microbrewery ales
and a selection of London-distilled gins
(plus artisan cheeses!) make this the sort of
friendly, knowledgeable and well-stocked
offie every street should have.
askewine.com
BUTCHER & DELI: The Ginger
Pig
137-139 Askew Rd, W12 9AU
It all started with three Tamworth pigs
over twenty years ago. Now the ’Pig has six
outlets across London, including the one
that really helped to cement Askew Road's
food revival. You enter the meat palace
butchery to find the finest handpicked
cuts and carcasses, specific breeds from
named farms such as W.E. Botterill & Son’s
free-range chickens from Lincolnshire, or
grass-fed Longhorn beef from The Ginger
Pig's own farms. The deli half of the store
has queues out the door for pies, pâtés,
cheese, preserves, sauces and freshly-made
hot meat sandwiches.
thegingerpig.co.uk
PUB: The Eagle
215 Askew Rd, W12 9AZ
Until a few years back this short road
boasted five pubs, but has since lost one to
T*sco and seen another go MIA. One of the
survivors, The Eagle is run by Geronimo,
which has a three star rating from was
the Sustainable Restaurant Association.
They named the group Sustainable Large
Restaurant Group of the Year 2014,
giving Geronimo an ‘outstanding’ 97%
score for their community focus. The
pubs’ sustainable food policy was called
‘exceptional’, scoring 88% for local and
seasonal sourcing, 75% for ethical meat and
dairy and 70% for Fairtrade ingredients.
geronimo-inns.co.uk/london-the-eagle
@theeaglew12
BALKAN FOODSHOP: Vardar
69 Askew Road, W12 9AH
Its heritage might not be the most local, but
where else in Da Bush will you find organic
Serbian wild cornelian cherry nectar, as
well as fruit spreads, vegetable juices and
60-80% fruit jams from the Granny's Secret
range?
[email protected]
EVENT: Edible Askew Road
15 December
Edible Askew Road was a community
project that turned the high street into an
orchard for the Chelsea Fringe last year.
It was so successful it was repeated for
Christmas and this year, local businesses
are again joining together to transform the
street with fruit wreaths, mulled wine and
seasonal nibbles,
askewbusiness.co.uk
@edibleaskewroad
Photos top left to right: Ravenscourt Park Glasshouses;
The Ginger Pig; Laveli Bakery. Bottom right: Vardar juices
You love
food,
you love
to cook
If you are a keen cook
and want to hone your
skills or even take them
to a professional level,
Leiths has a course to
suit you.
COOKERY SCHOOL: Leiths
16-20 Wendell Road, W12 9RT
So, you've got your belly of outdoor-reared pork,
you need to know what to do with it. Leiths’
famous cookery school just off Askew Road is
sure to be able to help. They offer courses such
as Real Bread making (some classes are taught by
the baker who writes the recipes for ‘Eel sibling
publication True Loaf), cheese-making, vegetarian
cookery and using the best of seasonal British
ingredients.
leiths.com
GROWING: Ravenscourt Park
Glasshouses
Ravenscourt Park, W12
Just a few minutes’ walk away in Ravenscourt
Park, local environmental charity Hammersmith
Community Gardens has renovated two
previously derelict glasshouses. They invite local
residents to classes, events and volunteer sessions
showcasing fruit, vegetable and medicinal herb
growing, including special sessions for carers and
people in long-term unemployment.
hcga.org.uk/gardens/ravenscourtglasshouses/
@hcgagardens
CAFÉ: Brackenbury's
135 Askew Rd, W12 9AU
A relative newcomer, this is a sibling to the
popular Brackenbury Village W6 cafe-deli. Coffee
is direct trade (advocates of which claim, when
done properly, it can promise better deals for
the producer than even Fairtrade), honey is from
nearby Holland Park, the homemade granola
is organic and your milk can be rice, soy or
almond, as well as the usual cow. Bring your own
container to take home coffee grinds for your
compost bin.
NB At the time of going to press, we learnt this café
was changing hands and so we’re not sure what
changes the new owner might make.
brackenburys.co.uk
One day classes
Cook with guest chefs including
Nathan Outlaw; indulge in your
favourite cuisine, or boost your
knife skills with Leiths experts.
Evening and
short courses
Learn all the kitchen skills you’ll
ever need on our ‘Cooking with
Confidence’ evening series, or our
1 – 3 week courses.
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Inspire budding chefs. Let’s Cook!
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Certificate to the internationally
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and Wine.
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Leiths voucher.
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at leiths.com/newsletter by
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[email protected]
feature
Have yourself
a Jellied little
Christmas
We sent Sue Msallem on a mission to find out what a Londoner’s
festive dinner table could look like if they made some of the tastiest
bits a little more, well Eel-y.
O
ur fair capital is jam-packed
with food producers and
retailers who share London
Food Link’s love for seasonal,
sustainable grub, so here are a few ideas
to help you have a very merry, Jellied Eel
Christmas.
20
thejelliedeel.org
Starter
Stoke Newington-based, Norwegian-style
smokehouse Hansen & Lydersen sources
its salmon from a sustainable farm in
the Faroe islands. Within 48 hours of
being caught, it’s filleted, salted and
cold-smoked over juniper and beech
wood using founder Ole Hansen’s family
recipe. For Christmas, they’re also making
gravadlax with beetroot and fennel.
hansen-lydersen.com
Meat…
Of course, Tom Hunt’s stuffed squash
(see recipe on p. 17) has just made it to
the top of your list of festive centrepiece
options. If, however, you go for a more
meaty mouthful, one super-local source
is Surrey Docks Farm in Rotherhithe. The
farm offers opportunities for people to
learn about farming and food production
in the heart of the city, and their shop will
have limited amounts of pork and turkeys
reared on site.
Other options include meat boxes of
organically-reared lamb or beef from Forty
Hall Farm in Enfield, or try your local,
independent butcher or farmers’ market to
see what biodynamic, organic, or at least
free-range / outdoor reared options they
have.
fortyhallfarm.org.uk
surreydocksfarm.org.uk
Christmas in The Borough by Mickey Lee for Better Bankside
…and many veg
For the choicest seasonal fruit and vegetables,
look to your local veg box scheme, such as
Local Greens in Herne Hill, Vegbox in Kentish
Town and Enfield Veg. Co.
To find your nearest local organic
veg box scheme, check out the Soil
Association’s online directory.
soilassociation.org/boxschemes
Saucy sides
Cranberry, schmanberry. The Well
Preserved make their jellies, jams and
chutneys from local, seasonal fruit and
vegetables. And for your cheeseboard or
Boxing Day buffet, waste-conscious social
enterprise Rubies In The Rubble also make
their champion chutneys from surplus
fruit and vegetables.
thewellpreserved.co.uk
rubiesintherubble.com
Cracking nuts
Give the Californian almonds or Turkish
hazelnuts a miss this year. Instead try
Kentish cobnuts or walnuts as moreish
nibbles or a crunchy addition to your
stuffings, puddings and cakes. Potash
Farm grows cracking cobnut and walnut
trees on their farm near Sevenoaks. You
can order them direct from the farm or
buy them at one of the farmers’ markets
they attend.
Better still, how about foraging for nuts
yourself? Sweet chestnuts are ripe for the
picking around this time of year. Urban
Harvest, an informal foraging network in
north London, lists their own and other
groups’ regular foraging meet-ups, along
with the details of learning walks with
professional foragers, on their website.
kentishcobnuts.com
urbanharvest.org.uk
Bakes
Why not impress friends and family with
homemade baked goodies? Borough
Market-based Bread Ahead’s bakery
school is holding a series of festive baking
courses for people who want to learn
how to perfect their mince pies or create
a gingerbread house showstopper. The
Baking Lab in St John’s Wood is also
running a series of seasonal workshops,
and Culinary Anthropologist, Anna
Cider
Woodford-based trio, John Burgess, Peter
Newton and Rochelle Schwartz are the
clever people behind London Glider. They
collect unwanted apples and pears and
turn them into award-winning cider and
perry, ensuring that absolutely nothing
is wasted they even give the leftover dry
pulp to local farms to use as sheep feed.
Colquhoun, is holding a festive bread class
at her Highbury kitchen on 6 December. breadahead.com
culinaryanthropologist.org
bakewithmaria.com/collections/
speciality-classes
sustainweb.org/realbread/real_bread_
campaign_bread_making_courses/
Say cheese!
Beer
Where do we begin? London’s brewing
scene is in fine fettle giving you oodles
of options when it comes to choosing a
festive beer. A trip to the ‘Bermondsey
Beer Mile’ around Maltby Street Market on
a Saturday is a great way to road-test some
of London’s best microbreweries. There
you can expect to find Hiver Honey Beer,
The Kernel Brewery, Partizan Brewing,
Brew by Numbers, Anspach & Hobday,
Fourpure and Bullfinch. Also be sure to
check out The London Brewers’ Alliance, a
collective of breweries within the M25.
davenportvineyards.co.uk
englishwineproducers.co.uk
londonglider.com
londonbrewers.org
With the likes of Kappacasein, Blackwoods
Cheese Company, Wildes Cheese and
Gringa Dairy all making cheese within the
M25, there’s no excuse for anything other
than a capital cheeseboard. Brockleybased Blackwoods started making their
raw cow’s milk cheeses last year, including
a washed rind Little John as an alternative
to Reblochon. Named after Luke Howard,
the man who named clouds, Howard is
a semi-hard cheese with a hint of blue
from fellow Tottenhamite, Wildes Cheese.
Borough Market’s annual evening of
cheese on 10 December provides the ideal
festive setting for you to quiz the makers
to help curate your perfect cheeseboard.
blackwoodscheesecompany.co.uk
kappacasein.com
wildescheese.co.uk
boroughmarket.org.uk
To market
For food, drink and edible gifts, London
Farmers’ Markets will be holding extra
markets on Monday 22 and Tuesday 23
December from 9.00am-12.00pm. Find (and
add) details of more markets and festive
foodie events on the Jellied Eel calendar.
lfm.org.uk
sustainweb.org/jelliedeel/events
Christmas tipples
There is no need to venture very far
outside London to quench your thirst
this Christmas, with an array of artisan
companies around we’re well and truly
spoiled for choice.
Bubbles
While mayor Boris (and we) wait for
the first London sparkling, we can
enjoy Limney Estate from East Sussex–
based, Soil Association certified house
Davenport’s Vineyard. They proudly
state their wines are made with as few
chemicals as necessary, eco-packaged and
transported in the most carbon efficient
way. Other award-winning effervescent
south eastern English offerings include
Chapel Down, Gusbourne and Hush Heath
in Kent; and Denbies in Surrey.
And out there on its own is Peckhambrewed Gosnell’s mead, a lighter,
sparkling take on the ancient honey-based
drink.
The leftovers
Don’t throw it out! For tonnes of ideas on
how to create marvellous meals with your
Christmas leftovers head on over to Love
Food Hate Waste
lovefoodhatewaste.com
Going out out
If cooking up a storm yourself all sounds
too much like hard work then check out
the restaurant guide from our friends at the
Sustainable Restaurant Association. The
SRA’s independently verified rating system
can help you choose an eatery according to
a range of sustainability criteria.
thesra.org
Photos courtesy of: Hansen & Lydersen, Rubies in the Rubble, Bread Ahead and Glider Cider
thejelliedeel.org
21
feature
Click your own
One of the fastest growing ways of shopping is click'n'collect: buying something online and picking it up from a pre-arranged spot. Anna Sbuttoni looks at how this, and other online
models, are helping to bring together shoppers and
local, food producers.
I
t's after work in a back room
of The Chequers pub in
Walthamstow, where crates are
lined up on spotty tablecloths,
brimming with fresh, colourful produce.
A chalkboard propped by the entrance
announces that this is a FarmDrop. At first
glance, this could be taken for an indoor
farmers’ market, but the difference is
that, as well as being protected from the
elements, customers have ordered their
food in advance online.
The community-minded pub has been
a FarmDrop point since founder Ben Pugh
launched his new online platform in May
2014 to make it easier for people to sell, and
buy, local food. The model is very similar to
that of La Ruche Qui Dit Oui! (The Hive That
Says Yes!) network launched in Toulouse in
September 2011. With around 600 ‘hives’
in France and Belgium, it hopped across la
Manche to Hackney Wick in July 2014 as The
Food Assembly.
FarmDrop customer Peter Urch-Grear
comes by with his backpack fit to burst,
having emptied his crate. It's his second
week here and he and his wife are still
experimenting, ordering a veg box as well
as eggs and bread this time. “It's great,” says
Peter. “We'll be coming back to get at least
eggs and bread every week.”
Timely concept
There are now five FarmDrop points across
London, based in local pubs, independents
22
thejelliedeel.org
cafes and shops, and at the time of writing
the capital’s eleventh Food Assembly was
about to launch near Victoria Park.
“We have only just got started,” says
FarmDrop's Ben Patten. “Now it's about
getting to a critical mass. Our producers can
see who their customers are, have a dialogue
with them and a tangible connection. We
want to make it as accessible as possible to
get this kind of food.”
It's a timely concept, as according to
research released by Planet Retail in 2014,
the number of UK shoppers who click'n'collect
is set to more than double by 2017. The
company’s global research director Natalie
Berg insists that people collecting online
purchases is poised for “explosive growth”
in the UK. For now, a sizeable 35% of British
online shoppers in the UK opt for pick up
instead of delivery, compared to 13% in the
US and 5% in Germany.
More newbies
Click‘n’collect is not the only way that small
food businesses are going online to help
introduce shoppers to local producers.
David Voxlin launched his online food
business, Craved, in June 2014 to support
London’s local small batch producers and
“allow people to discover the best food
and drink made right here in the city.”
Craved features nearly 100 producers on its
site, delivering on a vintage cargo bicycle
locally in Bermondsey; around London in
partnership with London tech startup Shutl
(which offers one-hour delivery slots);
and nationwide via UPS. “So much has
happened in the past decade that there
is really no good reason to rely on the
supermarket anymore,” Voxlin adds.
Another newbie is online food subscription
service Flavrbox, launched in 2013 by Nadia
Elhadery. Flavrbox subscribers receive
monthly or quarterly deliveries of products
from small independent producers, the twist
being what they receive is a surprise. “There
are so many great quality small brands out
there made by people really passionate about
what they are doing and often trying to
disrupt the status quo, it seemed a shame not
to give them a platform to be discovered.”
Real life connections
But how does this all fit in with more
established ways of buying local food,
particularly at farmers' markets with which
click’n’collect apparently has much in
common?
Cheryl Cohen, director of London Farmers'
Markets, explains that the markets offer
many more opportunities to make real-life
connections with other people than just
meeting the producer after a purchase has
been made. “Customers at our farmers’
markets can ask questions, taste seasonal
fruit, meet their friends and neighbours and
keep the local and rural economy thriving.
I’ve met children who have grown up playing
with their friends at their local farmers’
market.”
Photo courtesy of Craved
Fresh bytes
Other online food marketplaces include:
Big Barn: Describes itself as ‘the Amazon of Local Food
with 532 vendors selling 13091 products’
bigbarn.co.uk
Farmhopping: A Bulgarian farm-to-hub (eg an office)
delivery scheme, hopping to London around now and
looking for local farmers to work with farmhopping.com
The Food Assembly: ‘Facilitates direct exchanges
between local producers and a community of customers
that meet regularly at pop-up markets’ thefoodassembly.com
Muddycarrot: By “pulling together the best of
sustainable artisans into one website it enables shoppers
to make their shopping lower impact, whilst supporting
loads of fab businesses who have a great take on life.” muddycarrot.com
Open Food Network: An international free, opensource project that is currently developing “an open
marketplace that makes it easier to find, buy, sell and
move sustainable local food”
openfoodnetwork.org
Find more examples at: sustainweb.org/
localactiononfood/selling_food/#software
The way David Voxlin sees it is that, rather than take away from
what more established ways of selling and buying, online platforms
such as his are simply “opening up a wider market for producers
that is complementary to what they are already doing.”
“
We want to make it as accessible as
possible to get this kind of food”
For some people, click'n'collect offers an alternative to shopping
online from supermarkets that not only provides a direct route
between the producer and customer, but also fits in with busy
lives. Whether it’s here to stay or is another dotcom bubble waiting
to burst; and how producers, shoppers and more established food
retailers will relate to the developments, only time will tell.
What do you think? Are innovations like these good for some producers and shoppers? Join the conversation with @JelliedEel on Twitter.
farmdrop.co.uk
@FarmDrop
cravedlondon.com
@cravedfoods
flavrbox.com
@flavrbox
lfm.org.uk
@londonfarmers
thefoodassembly.com/en
@foodassembly
t
u
o
s
’
l
o
o
h
Sc supper
for
Let’s be honest, no one cooks like a Michelin
starred chef in their domestic kitchen. We just
don’t have the time, the fancy equipment or the
space to store over-sized plates, says Dipa Patel.
W
hat a good home cook does have in common
with a good professional chef is that he or she
uses good quality ingredients, plans time wisely
and puts passion into every dish prepared. This
is what Cookery School aims to pass on to every one of their
students.
The school offers a variety of classes, including making sauces
from scratch, to the very popular baking bread and pastries class,
there is even a course for brushing up on your knife skills. The
school can teach any novice home cook a new trick or two.
What makes Cookery School extra special is the team’s
attention to sustainability. Since it opening eleven years ago, the
school has always promoted an ethical ethos. Not only do they
recycle all food waste, support Slow Food, and source 75% of
their ingredients from local and organic suppliers, they promote
these practices in their classes, where ethical food is not only
cooked, it is also a key topic of discussion. They also support
people in their local community by raising money for a range of
charities as well as providing educational classes for schools.
In recognition of their efforts, they have been awarded three
stars from the Sustainable Restaurant Association two years in a
row for their outstanding commitment to running a sustainable
food business.
The team aims to create a relaxed atmosphere. The small
intimate classes, which never exceed fourteen students, and
sometimes have two tutors, are designed to create a comfortable
environment where students are encouraged to ask questions and
talk about food.
Cookery School’s team comprises passionate and dedicated
cooks, who have a love for food that is honest and good. They
share the dedication to create a place where learning to cook
is fun and informal, where food can be discussed and where
kitchen confidence can shine.
This is a place for people who care about the quality of their
ingredients, and who know how this enhances the quality of a
dish and of the soul.
cookeryschool.co.uk
@CookerySchool
thejelliedeel.org
23
what’s on
November
How to set up your
own microbakery
11-12 November, Izane Road, Bexleyheath,
Kent, DA6 8NU
Roll up your sleeves and learn how to
make everything from simple white and
wholemeal Real Bread, genuine sourdough,
speciality breads and more. Between all
this you’ll also learn the business side of
running a microbakery.
http://bit.ly/1D92b6R
Food start up seminars
for women
12, 19, 26 & 27 November, Brixton
Cornercopia, Brixton Village Market
A series of free workshops that aim to share
that knowledge with women at the start of
their journey into the food business. There
will be further opportunities for free 1:1
mentoring on a specific business idea and
introductions to an organisation that can
help with start-up loans.
brixtoncornercopia.co.uk/free-foodstart-up-seminars-for-women
Food Matters Live
18-20 November, ExCeL London, Royal
Victoria Dock, E16 1XL
Three days of talks and seminars that delve
into the world of food, health and nutrition.
Free to attend.
foodmatterslive.com/whats-on/
schedule
Growing health in housing
20 November 2014, Southern Grove
Community Centre, 40-50 Southern Grove,
E3 4PX
This event will showcase how food growing
can improve health and the benefits of
developing more growing projects and
activities on housing land. Run by Capital
Growth as part of Women’s Environment
Network Gardens for Life project.
capitalgrowth.org/events
You’ll also hear from members of the Sustain
alliance and other projects. All are welcome
to Sustain’s AGM beforehand from 3.30pm.
Tickets (including drinks and nibbles) are
free to Sustain members attending the AGM,
with discounts available to LFL and Real
Bread Campaign supporters.
sustainagm.eventbrite.co.uk
London Brewers' Market
28 & 29 November, Old Spitalfields Market,
E1 6EW
Featuring more than 20 local London
breweries selling their beer to enjoy at the
market and to take away and. 11am-9pm
and Saturday and 11am-6pm Sunday.
December
Civil society roles in
transition: towards
sustainable food?
10 December, City University London,
EC1V 0HB
Rachael Durrant (University of Sussex)
explores the important contribution civil
society organisations make to innovation
in both policy and practice, despite their
conspicuous absence in policy discussions
and strategic planning about food security
and sustainability. Free but booking essential.
foodresearch.org.uk/rachael-durrant/
Pig Fest
12 & 13 December, Stepney City Farm,
E1 3DG
A celebration of Berkshire pork reared on
the farm. Includes an ‘everything but the
oink’ pop-up and porky picnic plates.
PACT food from
foraging walk
14 December, Meet outside Castle Climbing,
Stoke Newington, N4 2HA
The area around the New River and
Manor House has an absolute abundance
of wildlife and plants. This free walk will
teach you how to forage the tasty food that
is available. The walk lasts about two hours
and everyone is welcome.
sustainablehackney.org.uk/events/pactforaging-walk-food-from-foraging
Edible wreaths
and decorations
14 December, The Old School House, Mill
Lane, Carshalton, Surrey SM5 2JY
With things gearing up for the festive
season EcoLocal unwraps the quirkier side
of decorations. Make Christmas wreaths
and table decorations from local food and
other tasty treats.
http://bit.ly/1D92b6R
Good Food Festival
18 December, Brunswick Square Gardens,
London WC1N
Food lovers will gather to appreciate
sustainable fine artisan foods and sample
from world-wide drink producers. Enjoy
free tastings, cooking demos and games.
goodfoodfestival.org
January
Agricultural Subsidies:
The Case of the Common
Agricultural Policy
30 January, Russell Square: College
Buildings, Room 4426
SOAS, The University of London’s Food
Studies Centre welcomes Richard Kuper to
discuss agricultural policies and the impact
of subsidies. Lectures are for members
only. To join free of charge contact
[email protected]
soas.ac.uk/foodstudies/forum/
Sustain annual gathering
27 November, St Ethelburgas Centre, 78
Bishopsgate, EC2N
Sustain, the charity that runs London
Food Link, invites you to their annual
networking event. The guest speaker is
Sarah Boseley, The Guardian’s health
editor and author of The Shape We’re In.
More!
Find and add details of London good
food markets, classes and events on our
calendar at the jelliedeel.org