Urban Food Fortnight, Friday 12 – Sunday 28 September
Cafés, restaurants and retailers have connected with London’s edible gardens and small producers, to showcase the best produce on offer in the city with special menus, one off events and supper clubs. Meanwhile urban growers will celebrate their gardens with harvest feasts, pop up dinners, botanical cocktail nights and foraging walks.
Events over the next fortnight will range from botanical gin cocktails organised by Sipsmith’s and Growing Kultur’s collaboration in West London, to feasts in poly-tunnels in King’s Cross, to exclusive menus scattered with Tottenham made cheese, Stratford sourced fish, Enfield reared lamb and, of course, Hackney grown salad. There is also the launch of KERB’s latest street food market – the new faces of London food, an exciting feast being organised in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic park as well as the fifth Edible Gardens Open Day, with 50 gardens open to visitors.
Rosie Boycott, the Mayor’s food advisor and the chair of the London Food Board, said: “We are absolutely delighted to support Urban Food Fortnight which is designed to showcase London’s extraordinarily vibrant food scene. The packed programme of events brings together small food businesses with urban growers. From cheese made in Tottenham to Enfield reared lamb, this is a real celebration of London’s gastronomic talents.”
The fortnight is organised by Capital Growth, London’s food growing network, who work with food growers throughout the year to help them become more enterprising and trade their produce. This year, they are also working with London producers of honey, charcuterie, fish and cheese to highlight the full variety of produce available from the city, as they have teamed up with Urban Food Routes, an initiative which is helping a variety of London’s small food enterprises with business advice and funding.
Eloise of Capital Growth says “Urban Food Fortnight is a great way to celebrate what London has to offer and to help food growers meet other businesses and create unique events for the city. We hope that some of these connections will continue throughout the year, so that the gardens can continue to thrive”. People will also have their chance not only to taste from London’s local larder, to vote for the best enterprise in London’s first Urban Food Awards, organised as part of Urban Food Routes.
To find a full list of what is happening and find out more about how to vote visit www.urbanfoodfortnight.org
Restaurants and events include:
-
New Faces of London Food, Thursday 18th September. A KERB collaboration with the new faces of London food at the spectacular Paperworks, Corsica Studios' new open air venue. Showcasing London producers and growers, supported by the Urban Food Routes programme.
-
Global Generation Skip Garden in Kings Cross will host an extravagant polytunnel banquet on Wednesday 17 September, featuring homemade delights fresh from their pizza oven, cocktails and ending with treats in a fire-lit yurt.
-
Sipsmiths Gin collaboration with Growing Kultur for a master class in botanical cocktails touring round their new distillery in Chiswick on Saturday 20th and 27th September, 18.00 – 20.30.
-
Midnight Apothecary will be open on both Saturday evenings during Urban Food Fortnight at the Brunel Museum to serve up expertly mixed cocktails made from fruits and herbs grown on their own rooftop garden overlooking the Thames.
-
EastTwenty Urban Feast Come to EastTwenty’s Urban Feast on Wednesday 21st September to experience an iconic view of the ArcelorMittal Orbit whilst eating the freshly harvested produce of the East End from Abbey Gardens. Tickets will be priced at £25 – which includes two courses and a drink. The ticket price includes a donation to Abbey Gardens. Book here http://arcelormittalorbit.com/
-
Mews of Mayfair will be showcasing a special menu throughout the fortnight, with all the ingredients sourced, grown and produced in London.
-
SoleShare will be celebrating their first birthday and the start of the native oyster season with their ‘Autumn Fish Feast’ featuring seasonal catch and Hackney Salad at Hackney City Farm on Wednesday 17th September.
-
On Saturday 20 September, The Friends of Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park will team up with pop-up platform Grub Club to lead a walk through London’s most beautiful wildlife spaces. Guests will learn about the edible plants growing in the city, before enjoying a dish cooked from London’s finest wild food.
-
Edible Gardens Open Day Saturday 20th September. This will be Capital Growth's fifth London wide open day - where Capital Growth spaces across the city take part in a celebration of the growing year, when their gardens are at their best. Visit the map to see the gardens that will open their gates for everyone to explore. http://www.capitalgrowth.org/events/opengardens/
-
Things will be heating up at Spitalfields City Farm on Sunday 28th September as the Festival of Heat kicks off to see chilli growers, chilli cooks and brave chilli lovers unite to celebrate all things spicy.
-
Unit D Shop & Restaurant will be open until Sunday 20 September in Whitechapel, serving an array of locally-sourced dinners from guest chefs to 14 lucky diners every evening.
-
On Thursday 18 September, Team London Bridge will host ‘Dinner from Our Back Garden’ – a night of al fresco dining and entertainment – in partnership with St. Mungo’s Putting Down Roots and Capital Growth will be hosting at the Table Café.
-
Acclaimed chef Malcom John will use produce from Sutton Community Farm and producers within 50 miles of London to create dishes for the exclusive ‘Less than 50’ dinner at Brasserie Vacherin in Sutton.
Growers and Producers include:
-
Rosemary Jeboo produces superlative jams from her own fruit grown at May Project Gardens in Morden.
-
Organiclea is a workers’ collective in north-east London, growing, producing and distributing food locally, and supporting others wishing to do the same.
-
Linkway Plantastic Prescription Gardens in Dagenham is maintained by volunteers and offers learning opportunities to those wanting to learn about sustainable living.
-
Clean Bean, based on Brick Lane, produce small batches of fresh, organic tofu using traditional techniques.
-
Better Health Artisan Bakery in Hackney provides training to those recovering from ill mental health, teaching them to make delicious, handmade sourdoughs.
-
Pimento Hill are inspired by their Jamaican heritage to produce a vast range of condiments using London-sourced ingredients.
-
Wildes Cheese isa micro-dairy based in Haringey making tasty, handmade, artisan cheese.
-
Social Enterprise The Aquaponicist has set up a research facility to investigate and test aquaponic systems with invasive fresh water crustaceans and various plant types.
-
Square Root London make traditional, natural sodas under the railway arches in Hackney.
-
Hawkwood Winery, part of Organiclea, harvest grapes from individuals and small-scale growers and return their fruits transformed into wine in London’s first winery since the Middle Ages.
Urban Food Fortnight (UFF). Urban Food Fortnight is coordinated by Capital Growth, London’s Food Growing Network and funded through Urban Food Routes and supported by The Mayor of London. For more information about Urban Food Fortnight go to www.urbanfoodfortnight.org Twitter: #urbanfoodfortnight @capital_growth
Capital Growth was launched in 2008 to provide practical and financial help to Londoners wanting to set up or expand food growing spaces. The scheme was funded from 2008 – 2012 by the Mayor of London and by the Big Lottery Fund’s Local Food scheme. Capital Growth continues to support its 2,000+members and with funding from The Mayor of London has been supporting growing spaces that have potential to be developed as social enterprises. Anyone interested in finding out more can visit the Capital Growth website at www.capitalgrowth.org
Urban Food Routes is a unique initiative funded by the Mayor of London and Seeds of Change® helping a variety of London’s small food enterprises gain from expert business advice and funding which will also benefit their local communities. The support is co-ordinated by the Plunkett Foundation with help from Growing Communities and London Food Link. For more information visit: www.urbanfoodroutes.org.uk
These two projects are part of Sustain: The alliance for better food and farming. Sustain advocates food and agriculture policies and practices that enhance the health and welfare of people and animals, improve the working and living environment, enrich society and culture and promote equity. Sustain represents around 100 national public interest organisations working at international, national, regional and local level. www.sustainweb.org.
