Farmers’ market frenzy SW6, SW12, WC1E, E1
Queen Mary University in Mile End became the first university location in London to have its own certified farmers’ market when it opened last year. The students are back – and so is the market – every Thursday. Other markets recently launched by London Farmers’ Markets include Balham at Chestnut Grove School; Parson's Green at New Kings School; and Bloomsbury in Torrington Square. www.lfm.org.uk/markets
Hackney salad days N16
Salad leaves grown locally by Hackney-based social enterprise Growing Communities have been ‘highly commended’ in this year’s Soil Association Organic Food Awards. Most salad bags go into their community-led organic box scheme, but the growing sites are now so productive that customers of ten local restaurants, cafés and shops can now eat this locally-grown organic produce. Outlets include the E5 Bakehouse, the Three Crowns in Stoke Newington, Organic and Natural in Clapton, Happy Kitchen in London Fields and the Duke of Cambridge in Clerkenwell. Interested in growing it as well as eating it? You could get involved as a volunteer or apply for their Urban Apprentice scheme. www.growingcommunities.org
School meal makeover TW, KT, SW
School dinners in 60 primary schools across two London boroughs are about to be transformed from yuk to yummy. Thanks to a successful campaign from the School Food Matters team, kids in Richmond and Kingston will be receiving freshly-prepared school meals which meet the Soil Association’s Food for Life Bronze – and in Richmond's case – Silver Catering Mark. That means high-quality food made from sustainable ingredients; free-range eggs, Red Tractor meat, Freedom Food chicken and pork, organic milk and bread, and all with no GM ingredients. And Richmond parents will be thrilled with the news the price they pay per meal will be reduced by up to 35p! www.schoolfoodmatters.com
Breastfeeding mums welcome N1
A new scheme is encouraging Islington venues to make breastfeeding mums feel more welcome. Once signed up to the Breastfeeding Welcome scheme, venues display a special window sticker so mothers know they won’t be made to feel uncomfortable. Islington, the latest place to launch the scheme, has around 150 venues signed up so far, including the Duke of Cambridge pub, The Rosemary Branch theatre pub, Costa Coffee and the Garden Court Café at Sadler’s Wells theatre. Venues are listed on the national website and featured on the local Facebook page. www.facebook.com/breastfeedingwelcome.nhs.islington
Learning by cooking N5
Enjoy a field to fork experience, bringing a taste of the country to London, with cookery classes hosted by food writer Anna Colquhuon, the Culinary Anthropologist. A Fish and Seafood day, on Friday 28 or Saturday 29 October, will focus on cooking fish such as lemon sole, mackerel, oysters and crab. All the fish is from family enterprises that fish off the Suffolk coast using long line rods to reduce waste. www.foodsafari.co.uk
Food in the schoolyard E2
Inspired by a three-day visit to a family-run organic farm near Glastonbury, Somerset, 15 Year 4 students from Sebright Primary School, Hackney, are inviting their families and the local community to their own school-run farmers’ market on Thursday 20 October. They have galvanised the whole school into learning about sustainable food. From Nursery to Year 5, each year group is organising their own market stall, after running classroom projects on making peppermints, organic chocolate, homemade soup, homemade biscuits, soap, candles, and growing herbs. A week before the market, Real Bread Campaign member and baker Ben from E5 Bakehouse is going to teach the students how to make Real Bread. Joining Ben’s stall will be other local Hackney producers, including local honey from the Capital Bee project, fruit and veg from local Capital Growth growing sites, milk from Bore Place Farm, and apples from Hackney Harvest, pressed into juice by Hackney City Farm. Primary and secondary schools across London are taking part in this inspiring two year Soil Association project. http://bit.ly/soilasscblog
Budgens Stall for All NW3, N8
To support new businesses, stalls that can be hired by start-ups have been launched outside Thornton’s Budgens in Crouch End and Belsize Park. Stall4All is for hire by local producers, artisans or makers, from within 20 miles of Camden and Haringey, who have made, grown, produced or created the products they intend to sell. With a special rate for London Food Link members and Capital Growth spaces, expect to see some great food if you pop by. For more information on hiring the stall or what is being sold and when, see: http://www.thorntonsbudgens.com/stall4all
