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SUMMER 2007
6 Someone wants your old cooking oil
9 New network for London’s restaurants
ISSUE 17
7 Surrey Docks Farm
3 Covent Garden wholesale go local 5 City Harvest Festival
Event Catering in LondonEEaattiinngg tthhee SSttrreeeett
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Now call me uncultured, but I'm notactually that partial to jellied eelsor, truth be told, anything served in
a gelatinous mass. But it would appearthat I'm in the minority as a recent surveyby UKTV has put jellied eels in the top tenBritish contributions to the culinary world,along with clotted cream andWorcestershire sauce. Maybe, when asked,people got confused with our magazine! Ijest. But I hope we can live up to ourculinary namesake and offer you up sometasty morsels this issue.
With this summer seeing the first visitof the Tour de France to London, we takea look at the capital's event catering (p8).We're pleased to see that the event will berunning a best of British food market inthe people's village where a few of ourmembers and other local producers andcaterers will have stalls. We've also beenworking with the London OrganisingCommittee of the Olympic (andParalympic) Games (LOCOG), to develop asustainable food policy. LOCOG aim tohave this ready by the New Year whenthey will be employing a manager tooversee the catering at the games. Thiswork dovetails with our new researchmentioned on p6. We're also pleased toreport on our Ethical Eats network (p9)which has stimulated a lot of interest sinceits launch in March (including an article onpage 3 of the Financial Times). If you are arestaurant, café or caterer then do getinvolved.
Networking - and more networkingIt seems like months since the last LFLnetwork do, and in fact it has beenmonths! So, we're now organizing thenext one, which will be on the 3rd July, atGeetie Singh’s renowned Islington organicpub, The Duke of Cambridge. Moredetails are on our website www.london-foodlink.org and on the flier which isincluded in this Eel. If you are interestedin doing a five minute presentation onwhat your project is up to, or would justlike to attend, then do get in touch.
We've had some really useful feedbackfrom all of you at the last event andthrough the members’ survey (well doneto Stephen Hurton who won the freebottle of wine). One of the things that wehave been hearing from you is that youwould like to visit some producers in andaround London. So we have started
arranging a programme of visits for therest of the year, and the first is on 11thJuly to Lambourne End and Forest FarmPeace Garden, in North-East London. Formore information see page 6.
July also sees our next meeting of theLondon Food Access Forum which will befocusing on older people and will take placeon the afternoon of the 17th. Please [email protected] formore information. For those of you whodon't know about the forum, let me giveyou a little background. It was created inSpring last year following feedback fromboth our members, and those of fellowSustain project, the Food Access Network,that members were keen to meet otherprojects, but lacked opportunities to do so,even when they were sometimes only afew miles apart. The forum meets roughlyeach quarter, with projects talking aboutthe work they have been involved in sincethe last meeting as well as future plansthey may have, providing an opportunityto get advice from other members whomay have had similar projects orexperiences. This round up is followed bya presentation on topics as diverse asevaluation, food mapping and the ethicsof accepting financial support orsponsorship from the private sector.
Food festival in the capitalFinally I wanted to highlight the next CityHarvest Festival in Enfield this September(p5), because this year we'll be helpingthe Federation of City Farms andCommunity Gardens to organize thisevent. It will, of course, have a food andfarming theme so we want to get all ofyou involved in this in some way. If youwould like to publicise your projectthrough a stall, or run activities, or justsend materials, do get in touch. See youin Enfield or hopefully before….
EditorialContentsAROUND TOWN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-4
BULLETIN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-6
MEMBER FEATURE: SURREY DOCKS FARM . . . 7
EATING THE STREET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
ETHICAL EATS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
CHANGING CATERING TRAINING . . . . . . . . . 9
ON THE MENU: AVANI ORGANICS . . . . . . 10
ALLOTMENT SLOT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
SHOP WINDOW: WHOLE FOODS MARKET . .12
IN PRINT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-13
LOCAL TO LONDON . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14-15
DIARY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
London Food Link runs a network oforganisations and individuals who careabout sustainable food. Our membersare as diverse as farmers and foodwriters, caterers and community foodprojects. Both London Food Link and itsmembers work towards:
increasing the availability ofsustainable food in London
tackling the barriers preventing accessto healthy and sustainable food forall Londoners
protecting and celebrating London'sdiverse food culture
London Food Link welcomes to itsnetwork all that share these aims.
Editor: Ben ReynoldsDesign: Gav DupeeIllustrations: Ciara DevinePrinting: RAP Spiderweb
Cover image by Pamela Troni
LONDON FOOD LINK94 WHITE LION STREET, LONDON, N1 9PFTEL: 020 7837 1228 FAX: 020 7837 1141EMAIL: [email protected]: WWW.LONDONFOODLINK.ORG
Disclaimer - Inclusion of information in The Jellied Eeldoes not imply that the product or service is endorsedby London Food Link or Sustain.
We would like to thank the followingvolunteers for their time andassistance:
Wayne AtkinsonVanessa DomenzainLeon PearsonSarah RutterPamela Troni
New Covent Garden Market
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LondonSustainabilityWeeksBack for the fifth year running, LondonSustainability Weeks promises to beevery bit as good as last year. Althoughofficially scheduled from 3rd - 17th June,it's clear from the LSW website that thisisn't stopping people from organisingevents from May through to August! Soeven if you happen to be on holiday forthe whole festival, don't let that stop youfrom checking out the websitewww.lovelondon.london21.org.
Around Town
Tasting London:Tasting LocalCovent Garden Market Authority (CGMA)and the South East Food Group Partnership(SEFGP) are launching a joint three yearproject to increase the volume of South Eastproduce in London's food service and publicsector through New Covent Garden Market.
This South East of England DevelopmentAgency (SEEDA) funded project will have aperson dedicated to using the Market as adistribution hub for products from the SouthEast region, to forging closer links betweenproducers and wholesalers, to quantifyingthe demand for South East products, toestablishing links with local schools and toexploring the potential for a speciality SouthEast products outlet at the Market.
New Covent Garden Market (NCGM) isone of the UK's leading wholesale marketsfor fresh produce (fruit, vegetables andflowers) and also houses the largestconcentration of catering distributors in thecountry. Many of the catering distributorsat NCGM handle other goods includingfresh, chilled and frozen, semi-preparedand processed produce and also dried
Central FairtradeFilm FestivalDuring London Sustainability Weeks theLondon Fairtrade Campaign will screen avariety of films that show how unfairtrade practices affect the lives ofproducers and growers in poor countries.At each screening a discussion panel willconsider the importance and the impactof Fairtrade. There will also be Fairtradesamples and information from theLondon Fairtrade Campaign showing howyou can get involved. Films beingscreened include Black Gold on 27thJune at the Prince Charles cinema,6.30pm.
The London campaign is supportedby companies and organisationsincluding The Co-operative, DivineChocolate, Cafédirect, the GreaterLondon Authority, London Food Link andthe Fairtrade Foundation. For moreinformation please contact:
020 7405 5942 [email protected] WWW.FAIRTRADELONDON.ORG.UK/LISTINGS.ASP
For tickets please contact the individualcinema box offices.
goods, dairy, packaged meats and fish.While many of the catering distributors
based at the Market are small comparedto national operators, they offer quality,service and flexibility as well as specialismssuch as organic supplies. One of thesecompanies, Chef's Connection, has justbeaten national competition to win thetitle of Foodservice Supplier of the Year.
This project fits well into the LondonFood Strategy, particularly having thepotential to develop NCGM as a consoli-dation point for South East produce foronward delivery into London's foodservice sector, leading to fewer 'whitevan' miles. It will enable producers tofocus on their core strengths andcapitalise on the existing sales and distri-bution network at NCGM.
For more information about thisproject please contact:
HELEN EVANS, CGMA020 7501 3487 [email protected]
HENRIETTE REINDERS, SEFGP023 9245 2288 [email protected]
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East Newham FoodAccess PartnershipNewham Food Access Partnership has wonan award from the Federation of BlackHousing Organisations (FBHO) forOutstanding Commitment to Health Carein the community. NFAP has beenworking in Newham alongside its partnerssince 2001 to promote access to healthyfood. The partnership is currenty based atEast Thames, a key supporter of bothNFAP and Community Food Enterprise,which run many community food projectsfor the people of East London.
Sarah Williams, manager of NFAPexplained "We are delighted with therecognition of the hard work of NFAP. TheFBHO commended our partnershipapproach, which is crucial to the success ofany work in food and health". NFAP hasalso recently launched a Newham FoodNetwork to develop their work withcommunity-based partners.
Although much of NFAP's work hasfocused on promoting health andimproving access to healthy foods thepartnership also recognises wider foodissues. For example NFAP coordinatesNewham's Fairtrade campaign and hasstarted looking at ways to improve thesustainability of the food chain inNewham. Visit www.nfap.org.uk to findout more about NFAP
Healthy EatingChampions come toNewham NFAP has been workinghard! Not only has it justwon an award (see above)but it has also just started anew programme to train HealthyEating Champions in Newham. The project,funded by Newham's NeighbourhoodRenewal Fund and East Thames, will offertraining for people working and volun-teering in Newham so they have the skills tomotivate and encourage people to eathealthily. The idea is to embed healthpromotion skills in the community withpeople that can relate to and understandthe difficulties others may face when tryingto change their eating habits.
There will also be a more intensivecourse to build training, support andorganising work placements for localresidents who could act as 'CommunityHealthy Eating Champions' in theircommunity. This will focus on healthyeating but will also cover the basics ofsmoking cessation and physical activity, andhow to run a short community project.
Aardvark Recycling is a new social enterpriseoperating across many estates in the Lambetharea. Aardvark’s services include collectingkitchen food waste and dry recyclables suchas paper, cardboard, glass, tins and plasticbottles. The kitchen food waste is broughtback to a processing plant in the heart ofLambeth. It is then turned into compost andmade available to residents and communitygroups for improving soil quality or growingyour own vegetables.
Aardvark Recycling also has a newAffordable Fresh Fruit and Veg DeliveryService. Funding means Lambeth residentscan have affordable, great quality producedelivered to their doorsteps directly from anaward winning UK farm. A variety of box sizeswill be available to meet residents' particularneeds, along with recipe ideas, trips to thefarm, and Aardvark aprons. The scheme canalso accept NHS Healthy Start vouchers(speak to your health visitor or midwife aboutapplying for these).
This new fruit and veg delivery serviceshould not only provide good quality,affordable food, but also support both Britishfarmers and more sustainable agriculture, aswell as reducing packaging. For moreinformation on any of these services and tosee what other exciting initiatives will becoming soon, please visit www.aardvarkrecy-cling.org.uk or call 0845 337 2939.
Food Up Front London Food Link member, SebMayfield, launched the Food Up Frontproject earlier this month, encouragingresidents of Wandsworth to turn theirbalconies and concrete driveways intovegetable patches. Mr Mayfielddeveloped the idea with a green-fingeredfriend, Zoe Lujic, to meet the growinginterest in gardening and organic food inthe borough.
"People are waiting between threeand 10 years for an allotment, but thereare lots of front gardens that aren't beingused at all. We just put two and twotogether," he said. "We want people togrow anything and everything from herbsthrough to lettuce, tomatoes and broccoli- anything you could grow in thecountry," he added.
Residents who sign up to the schemeare provided with compost, seeds andpots, from the recycling serviceWandsworth Freecycle. They will also begiven advice on how to get homeallotments flourishing. In this pilot yearfor the scheme, Food Up Front is onlytaking on a limited number of gardens,but the project has applied forcommunity funding and hopes that, bynext year, Food Up Front will developinto a burgeoning network. The idea hasreceived an enthusiastic reception fromgardening novices and seasonedvegetable-growers alike.
South Aardvarkrecycling boxscheme
Food Up Front
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BulletinCity HarvestFestivalThe Lambourne lambing event was one ofmany that will take place across city farmsand community gardens in the build up tothe City Harvest Festival, an eventcelebrating the work of London's cityfarms and gardens, held at Capel ManorCollege, Enfield on 22nd September 2007.The theme of this year's event will beGrowing Food in the City, and will be theLondon launch of the Year of Food andFarming, a government and industry-ledinitiative aimed at helping children andyoung people learn more about how foodis grown and produced and how it reachesthe consumer.
The show, which is organised by theFederation of City Farms and CommunityGardens (FCFCG), is in its eighth year.Some of the activities at this year's showinclude:
a children's animal show, where thechildren from London's city farmsshow their animals, a horticulture marquee where the hugerange of crops grown in the city aredisplayed, bread-making displays using a specialbread-oven built on site before theevent,
many children's activities, making thisan enjoyable day for the whole family.
There will be additional marqueesproviding "green" catering, and cookerydemonstrations where food that has beengrown over the year at London's farmsand gardens will be turned into tastytreats!
This year the event will be co-hostedby London Food Link, so we are keen topromote London Food Link networkmembers at the event. If you would liketo get involved, and have any ideas onactivities you would like to run to promoteyour work, please contact London FoodLink.
As part of the show there will also be acompetition for the best and mostimaginative food grown in the capital.Open to anyone living in London, thecompetition aims to encourage Londonersto grow their own food, although withspace at a premium in the city, entries willbe rewarded for not only the best producebut also for the most imaginativecontainer. The prize might go to someonegrowing tomatoes out of an old tomatotin, or reclaiming a disused bath to growspuds! More information about thecategories will soon be circulated via thee-forum. For more information contactBen Reynolds at [email protected].
Lambing atLambourne End To celebrate the lambing season thisMarch, the London branch of theFederation of City Farms and CommunityGardens (FCFCG) organised a lambingweekend at Lambourne End OutdoorCentre. The centre is a 54-acre site withmany facilities including a working farm. Itis in an area where incomes are low and isnot as close to public transport as citybased projects. Fortunately there areadvantages to it’s more rural locationbecause, given its proximity to the capital(on the borders of Essex), it is ideallyplaced to provide a countryside break forcity kids from built-up areas.
The weekend saw children from seveninner city projects visit the centre to learnabout lambing. Tommy Gallagher,manager of Brooks Farm in Walthamstow,a densely built-up part of London,explained that the young people from hisproject who took part in the lambingweekend benefited from "a sense ofcommunity, friends, and a break from theestate they live on".
WWW.FARMGARDEN.ORG.UK/INDEX.PHP?OPTION=CONTENT&TASK=VIEW&ID=100WWW.LEOC.ORG/
Credit: Pamela Troni
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lessons from - the project, as well assuggestions for future work. Such workwould focus more closely on specificcontracts coming up for renewal fairlysoon.
While the work with the suppliers wasmostly through visiting each company attheir place of business, the buyers werebrought together at a number ofmeetings. These were very well attended,with a high level of interest expressedboth in buying local and sustainable food,and in continuing to receive assistance indoing so.
Both Sustain and EAFL hope tocontinue working with both the buyersand the suppliers to ensure that moresustainable food from East Anglia is servedon London plates.
EMMA HOCKRIDGE, SUSTAIN, 020 7837 [email protected]
Have your say onfood at 2012Olympics In five years time London will play host toone of the world's greatest festivals whenthe Olympics Games comes to town. Andthe athletes, volunteers, technical officials,team officials, VIPs and spectators will allhave something in common - they will allneed to eat, consuming a total of 13million meals between them during thecourse of the Games. Will it be possible toget local and sustainable food into thecatering systems for the Games? And whatwill be the long-term impact of theGames' food policies and practices on thecommunities affected by the greatest showon earth? To tackle these and otherquestions, we are pleased to welcomeRobin Webster who will be undertaking apiece of research commissioned by the SoilAssociation, New Economics Foundationand London Food Link/Sustain. As a partof this project, Robin would be particularlyinterested to hear from suppliers,producers and caterers who have a storyto tell about the Olympics. Have you beenfinding it particularly hard to getinformation about the food at theOlympics? Do you think enough opportu-nities will be open to you to supply yourproduce to the Games? What do you thinkwill the effect on food systems in EastLondon in the long-term? Do you haveany recommendations for changes whichcould be made to procurement processes?
If you have something to say, contactRobin on 020 7837 1228 [email protected] up until the end ofJune.
London Food Linkmember starts freeused cooking oilcollectionProper Oils is a new local company, whichcollects Used Cooking Oil (UCO) free ofcharge from caterers inside the M25 andalong the M3/M4 corridor. The UCO isthen supplied to local biodiesel refineriesand, once refined, the biodiesel can powerdiesel vehicles, in place of diesel madefrom mineral oil.
Proper Oils provides this free collectionservice to restaurants, cafés, takeaways,council day centres and, in fact, anycaterer in the London area who produceswaste cooking oil from both vegetable oranimal fats.
In the first five weeks of operating,Proper Oils - a registered approved wastecarrier - has already secured 140customers, and is scheduled to collectenough UCO to save 380 tonnes of carbondioxide (CO2) in its first year of operation.
However, Proper Oils has ambitions tosave 7,500 tonnes of CO2 during its firstyear, so it needs more customers!Independent caterers usually pay for aregistered waste carrier to dispose of theirUCO but using Proper Oils could savecatering businesses up to £500 a year.
If you, or any caterers you know,would like more information on this free,scheduled collection service for UCO,please call Stephen or David on0845 470 80 91.
Technical note: CO2 savings are workedout based on figures from Defra whichshows mineral diesel generates 2.63kg CO2
per litre used. www.defra.gov.uk/environment/business/envrp/gas/ envrpgas-annexes.pdf
STEPHEN HURTON 07970 045 826WWW.PROPEROILS.CO.UK
Calling all caterersand restaurateursOver the past year Eostre Organics, acompany that brings together organicproduce from small scale growers all overthe Eastern Counties as well as partners inEurope and beyond, has developed anetwork of stalls in London. Thesecurrently serve retail customers, but Eostreis keen to see the stalls used as pick-uppoints for caterers too. At the end ofeach trading day, everything that is unsoldis packed up and trucked back to thewarehouse in Norfolk, so there is a hugerisk of wasting perfectly edibe produce.To avoid this, Eostre has tended tounderstock their stalls and so potentiallylost sales. Eostre is now proposing that, aswell as receiving deliveries during theweek, caterers collect produce from one ofthe stalls at the weekend, with the addedof incentive of discounts between 10 and30 per cent on collection. For moredetails contact:
Increasing local andsustainable foodacross theboroughsGovernment Office for London (GOL)recently commissioned Sustain's GoodFood on the Public Plate project and EastAnglia Food Link (EAFL) to carry out ashort-term project to increase the amountof local and sustainable food being boughtby London's public sector. Designed tohelp GOL work towards the aims ofGovernment's Public Sector FoodProcurement Initiative, the project set upbuyer groups in London councils andhospitals and linked them with sustainablesuppliers from East Anglia.
The work culminated in a report toGOL, detailing the experience of - and
Farm VisitsIn response to demand from London FoodLink members, from this summer we willbe organising project visits along thesupply chain. The first of these will be avisit to Lambourne End farm on 11th July.This full-day trip will include a tour of thefarm, BBQ lunch, and in the afternoon weplan to visit another local farm. The tripcosts £6 for LFL members and £10 fornon-members. Transport is arranged fromHainault tube station with pick-up in themorning.
Other visits are in preparation for laterin the summer and autumn, which mayinclude foraging, and a fishery. Places arelimited for these visits, so please contactBen Reynolds if you would be interestedin attending.
What goes on at Surrey Docks Farm?Surrey Docks Farm is 2.2 acres of thrivingand dynamic farming in the city. It's a realworking farm or, to be more precise, asmallholding in the city. All of our projectswork with individuals or groups from ourlocal communities, local schools and youngpeople in Southwark. We offer lots ofopportunities to learn about sustainablefarming, food production, and theenvironment. Participants in the farm'svolunteer programmes enjoy hands-onexperiences that contribute to their owndevelopment and that also provide anopportunity to work in a uniquely peacefuland therapeutic environment.
The farm has a herd of milking goats, aflock of sheep, and some pigs, cattle,poultry, bees, and donkeys. These herds andflocks are farmed ethically, without intensivemethods, to ensure the animals' goodquality of life. There are also a variety ofgreen areas including an orchard, herbgarden, dye garden, and organicallymanaged horticultural gardens.
The farm provides structured training foradults with learning disabilities in the NewLeaf and Farm Produce projects, and via thenew Cow Pat training project. These projectsall encourage trainees to choose the focusand direction of their own work. Learningactivities are based around horticulture,dairy work, bee keeping, food productionand cooking, crafts, and animal care.
The farm also has a community café,which makes delicious home-cooked food.Daily "specials" and friendly staff, withflowers and animals sounds in thebackground, make the café an appealingenvironment to have a latte and a slice ofhomemade banana loaf or have lunch!
The farm has a resident artist-blacksmithwho operates the forge and produces worksof art for schools, councils, and communityspaces. The forge project also facilitates avariety of workshops and trainingprogrammes for volunteers, apprentices,and enthusiasts.
Who set it up and when?In 1976, Hilary Peters was partly employedby the council to clear land for buildingflats. She used goats to help clear the land,and slowly but surely a farm was born; thecouncil being particularly slow at managing
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the land! She has written about herexperiences in a book entitled'Docklandscape'.
Who is involved in your work?Sarah, education coordinator, works withschools to provide education outside theclassroom. She liaises with various classesand relates the national curriculum tolearning at the farm. I am the coordinator.of Café Nabo. I set up the café and openedin February 2006 to give the community anunderstanding of food and farming issuesand how they relate to their daily lives. CaféNabo is self-financing and we hope that itwill help to finance the farm's futuredevelopment. Our aim, I would say, is to beable to provide the local community withgood, healthy, wholesome quality foodwithout costing the earth! We also try toeducate the public about sustainable foodand farming by having information availableto read in the cafe.
What have you been working onrecently?I’ve been trying to find more sustainablefood for the café, so I can confidently saywe are "conventional farming free"! Thefarm is working with people in Nunhead to
develop a mobile farm so that people inPeckham and Nunhead can have contactwith animals. We are also building up ourhives and hope to have local Southwarkhoney very soon! As a working farm we arecurrently working on breeding turkeys forChristmas!
Is there anything that has reallyworked, or really hasn't worked atthe Farm? The box scheme we run, which is a pick upscheme, hasn't really worked but we keeptrying.
What does the future hold?Sarah would like to develop a projectworking with pupils who are excluded or atrisk of exclusion from school. We also have afestival on August 4th which is set to be agreat day, with an auction and great enter-tainment!
Seeta RajaniCafé Nabo co-ordinatorSurrey Docks City Farm, South Wharf,Rotherhithe street, London SE16 5EYt: 020 7231 1010e: [email protected]: www.surreydocksfarm.org
Seeta works to make Café Nabo “conventional farming free”Credit: Alistair Dow - [email protected]
MEMBERFEATURESURREYDOCKSFARM
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According to market researchers,Mintel, we are spending £17.7billionon eating in restaurants. This sounds
a lot, until it's compared to the total weare spending on food and drink consumedoutside the home in general - which is astaggering £87.5billion. Across most ofLondon, if you take a stroll at lunchtime,you will probably find out where most ofthis "non-restaurant" expenditure is going.From hot dogs to hot Thai curries,sandwiches to jacket potatoes, workers arequeueing up at traders along the streetmarkets for something to scoff, no doubt,in front of the computer back in the office(yes, I'm talking from experience!). As wellas lunches, it seems hard to go anywherein London without walking into anotherfestival of some kind, which in most caseswill be offering up some nosh to therevellers. And it's not just food on thestreets. Many caterers offer meal servicesfor public or private corporate clients, andall of this contributes to this £87.5 billionfigure.
The plethora of cuisines on sale areoften a good reflection not only ofLondon's multicultural diversity, but also ofthe specialities specific to that neighbour-hood. But where do the ingredients comefrom? How do we know how they wereproduced, and what is happening to all thewaste at the end of the day? These are allgood questions, and particularly to us atLondon Food Link. Unsurprisingly however,they are not the first concern of manycaterers.
The struggle to stay in businessParamjeet Kaur, for instance, of Mama'sVeggie Kitchen, has invested in productionkitchens and outside catering equipment tomeet the 2006 Food Safety Law. She nowmust use, or hire out, these kitchens tomaximum capacity to recoup her capitalinvestment. Many caterers are nowstruggling to find efficient methods torecruit new clients or increase the amountof work from existing clients. For example,Christine Nelson, from Diverse Cuisine, hasgained expertise in catering for staff at StGeorges hospital in south London but shedoes not have the time to exploit thisexpertise and recruit other hospital clients
Eating the street
White Loop The organisation White Loop has comeup with a new concept for streetmarkets. The idea behind 'Eat YourStreet'is to have a food festivalcelebrating the local community andraising their profile of local foodbusinesses so people know what's ontheir doorstop. This would include notjust retail and restaurants, but alsomany of London's best kept secrets -the manufacturers that don't normallyget publicity.. Jim Playfoot from WhiteLoop explains, 'local business that havea presence on the high street and thosethat aren't in the public eye like eventcaterers and processors will have achance to show what they do to thepublic and other businesses. We hopethat this will help encourage local foodsystems, with people getting excitedabout the food that is available on theirdoorsteps.' Another part of this idea isthat it wouldn't just be a one-offcommunity festival but would also befollowed up with more activitiescelebrating local food. White Loop iscurrently in discussions about thelocation of the first 'Eat the Street' pilotevent.
Jim Playfoot - White Loop020 7432 [email protected]
in neighbouring boroughs. Many small food enterprises are owned
and run by women from ethnic minorities,specialising in the cuisines of London'sdiverse communities and employing stafffrom the local area or from similar culturalbackgrounds. It is hard to think ofsomething that better fits governmentfunding priorities than this! And yet thereis very little support for these businesses.Some parts of London have organisationsoffering business support to start upcatering businesses, such as Greenwich Co-operative Development Agency. However,these by no means cover the whole of thecapital, and often aren't visible to thosebusinesses who are seeking support. Whenit comes to business support includingadvice on sustainability, the supportavailable reduces dramatically.
Demand for sustainable food on the riseThis lack of support on sustainability mayseem peripheral to some, but one of themost common requests we deal with is forsustainable caterers. Feast Your Eyes isdoing the catering for the openingceremony of the London leg of the Tour DeFrance, the world's greatest cycling race.Dawn Safari, who runs Feast Your Eyes,explained to me that their passion for andcommitment to fair trade and environ-mental policies is central to their business.By offering fresh, local, seasonal and,where possible, organic ingredients, Dawnbelieves this has helped them to standabove their competitors. This was one ofthe reasons why Feast Your Eyes won thecontract to run the café at the Laban danceschool in Deptford last year.
London's street marketsand events have awealth of differentcuisines reflecting thediversity of the capital.But how sustainable isthe food we eat outbeyond the diningtable? Ben Reynoldsexplores.
Credit: Pamela Troni
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When it comes to events in London, itis also worth mentioning a certain set ofgames in 2012! It seems there aren'tmany people in the food community whohaven't given a little thought to what theOlympics might offer them. However, asChristine Nelson found out, the process ofgetting information about catering for the2012 Games is opaque at best. "I spentweeks trying to get information on howthe catering is going to work. I've gone onthe website. I've tried to speak to peopleon the phone. I just want to know what Ineed to do to become an approved caterer.We have the right to serve the Olympics asmuch as the large established chaincompanies that they will probably end upusing". We hope that our new researchmight shed a little light on the opportuni-ties available (see p6).
New sustainability standards for catering?Another body taking an interest in theLondon Olympics is the British StandardsInstitute (BSI). The BSI has just launchedBS 8901 'Sustainable events managementsystem - Specification with guidance foruse'. This guidance is designed to providegood practice requirements for planningand managing sustainable events of allsizes and types, encompassing thecomplete range of events from large-scalebusiness conferences and one-off eventssuch as the 2012 Olympics, to musicfestivals, air shows and amateurfundraising events.
BS 8901 will, when finalised, helporagnisations to demonstrate publicly theircommitment to sustainability. Thestandard should provide a route map thatexplains sustainability in eventmanagement as well as how to developand measure this capability in organisa-tions. The BSI is inviting the events industryto test the standard by applying the draftto their own activities and by participatingin pilot projects.
So will this mean that London'sfestivals and street markets start havingmore sustainable food on offer? Onething's for sure, we're not going to begetting fewer requests for caterers whocare about sustainable issues. So if you fitthe bill, or are interested in learning abouthow to make your business moresustainable get in touch.
Ben Reynolds020 7837 [email protected]
To register interest in testing BS 8901,contact [email protected] byMonday 4 June 2007. The draft isavailable for public comment until 30thJune 2007, to be launched in Autumn2007. To download a copy of the draftvisit www.bsi-global.com/bs8901.
During our research for the OnePlanet Dining report (see p13),the issue of training for caterers,
or lack of it, came up again and again.There are National VocationalQualifications (NVQs) and other morespecialised courses, but demand hugelyoutweighs supply. And for many in theindustry, even this training is not goingfar enough. Sara Jayne Stanes, Directorof the Academy of Culinary Arts,believes that this is due in part to thelack of standardisation across the NVQsystem, but also because of the lack ofskills among students coming onto thescheme, who never learned to cook atschool. She, and many other caterers,believes it is vital that food goes back onthe national curriculum. This wouldmean not only the cooking skills thatused to be included in home economics,but also an understanding of where foodcomes from, how it is grown and theeconomic, environmental and politicalissues around it. Students would thenstart their NVQ training building onexisting knowledge and not having tospend their time on basics.
With the NVQ system having tocover ground that would once havebeen taught in schools, it is no wonderthat other elements are lacking. In arecent survey of some of London'straining schools, London Food Linkfound that almost none of themincluded sustainability issues in theirNVQ catering training. This supports theview of Damian Nolan, managingdirector of the Hoxton Asian and
Oriental School of Catering, whoobserves that the current NVQ qualifica-tions teach people how to cook, buthave little to say about wider issuesrelating to health or sustainability.Damian is now leading a new projecttesting how to incorporate into hisschool's training issues such assustainable food, waste disposal andrecycling, water and energy use. This isinitiative is part of London SustainabilityExchange's Greener Food project,partnered by London Food Link. Theresults of this pilot project could lay thegroundwork for some radical changes incatering training, in a country that is atlast waking up to the reality of climatechange.
Amongst those acutely aware of thethreat to our climate is Acorn House, arestaurant which prides itself on takingsustainability seriously. So seriously, thatit too is looking to start its own trainingkitchen to teach catering students notonly the basics through NVQ level quali-fications, but also about wider sustain-ability issues, and the practicalities ofrunning a restaurant in sustainable way.We hope that the rest of the industrywill take note of what these trailblazersare doing and follow suit.
London Food Link's briefing paper oncatering training in the capital will bepublished later this summer. Pleasecontact [email protected] more information.
Changing Catering Training?
On 20th March Avani Organics (seep 10) hosted the launch of EthicalEats, a network of the capital's
eateries brought together by LondonFood Link to champion the ethicalapproach to catering.
At the network's first meeting, repre-sentatives of restaurants including Leon,Moshi Moshi and Sausage & Mash Cafémet with Greenpeace, the MarineStewardship Council and other environ-mentalists to discuss the slippery issue ofsustainable fish.
Allegra McEvedy, co-owner and chefof the Leon chain of healthy fast foodrestaurants, said, "It's amazing how littlesupport there has been until now forchefs and restaurateurs who care aboutthe environment. I cannot stress what a
difference Ethical Eats will make byhelping us and other like-mindedbusinesses get the right information andadvice and meet the right people - inshort, by just being there to help.Having this as a resource to draw on isan all-round good thing for any catererswith a conscience."
The next Ethical Eats meeting, a'meet the producer' event, took place onthe 5th June, during LondonSustainability Weeks, where restaurantowners and chefs were given theopportunity to see and taste seasonalproduce from local suppliers.
For more information contactCharlotte on 020 7837 1228 [email protected].
London restaurants put theenvironment on the menu
On The Menu Avani Organics One of our customers asked if we'd
open a second branch in KingsCross," says Alpana Patel - co-
owner, finance director and dessert chef ofnew Islington café, juice bar and foodstore, Avani Organics. "I told her that wewouldn't rule it out, but not just yet -we'd only been open two weeks!"
Having spent a year researching,planning and setting up their newbusiness, Alpana and her husband andbusiness partner Piyush have found that allthe hard work and effort has been worthit. Alpana, Piyush and their small team -Mark in the kitchen, Mehdi and Melstaffing the counter - clearly take greatpride in their work, and the response fromcustomers since Avani opened its doors inJanuary this year has been "fantastic," saysPiyush.
"We haven't done any advertising sofar - word of mouth has done wonders forus," he continues. "People just love thefood. In fact they often ask whether ourchef is going to write a cookery book."Chef Mark Senn, who previously workedat Mildred's vegetarian restaurant in Soho,has gone one better and set upwww.veginity.com, where keen cooks canwatch videos of him taking them throughsome of his favourite vegan recipes. "It'slike an online cooking lesson," explainsAlpana. "We were very lucky to get Mark.He used to run a cafe in the organicsection of Queen Victoria Market inMelbourne so he's used to working withorganic produce. He's a trained pastrychef, and he has lots of ideas foodwise -especially for dishes that suit people withdifferent dietary requirements."
Organic bacon butties and moreWhile the café is not 100% vegetarian -you can pop in for an organic bacon buttyfor breakfast - it does offer an unusuallybroad choice for vegetarians and vegans,as well as people on gluten or wheat freediets. "In the first few weeks it becameclear that lots of our customers wantedwheat or dairy free options - so we alwaysmake sure there's a main dish and dessertthey can all eat."
At Avani, they enjoy introducing theircustomers to new ingredients and dishes."People are more open to trying newthings these days. If there's something onthe menu they haven't tried before -halloumi say, or tempeh or seitan - wegive them a bit to taste," says Piyush.
Avani's menu changes daily, givingMark the flexibility to make the most ofseasonal produce. Both Alpana's andPiyush's families have their roots in theGujarat region of India and they were bothkeen for the menu to have an Asianinfluence, as well as reflecting Mark'sbackground in vegan cuisine. Mark is halfAustralian and half Sri Lankan and this isreflected in the ingredients he uses.
Avani's daily specials always includetwo soups (sweet potato and coconut is afavourite, as is Thai pumpkin Soup), twohot dishes (such as teriyaki stir fry withnoodles, or pumpkin dahl with rice), anda selection of inventive salads (pear,walnut & smoked tofu with baby spinach& raspberry vinegar, for example). Thetempting display of Alpana's cakes andtarts and Mark's trademark handmadetruffles is always hard to resist. As well asserving food to eat-in or take-away, Avanialso cater for meetings and office lunchesand make cakes for special occasions.
Take a breakThe idea for the café came about whenPiyush, tired and stressed from his job inthe building trade, was ordered by hisacupuncturist to take a break. He andAlpana started juicing at home, andbecame interested in the health benefits offresh juices. They were both keen to leavetheir jobs (Alpana worked in marketing)and set up their own business, and whenthe lease came up on a unit on GoswellRoad next to the Goswells café, theydecided to open a juice bar to help otherpeople "juice to health." As it turned out,the owner of Goswells decided to relocate,the Patels took over the whole space andthe juice bar idea blossomed into anorganic café, catering business andconvenience store.
'Avani' means 'earth' in Sanskrit,reflecting the fact that the Patels wanted tocreate a business which was environmen-tally sustainable. At Avani they are veryparticular about the way things are done,using only organic ingredients in all theirdishes, and as much Fairtrade produce asthey can. They also make sure that alltheir take away packaging is eitherrecycled or biodegradable.
What's in store next for Avani? Theshop will be open within the next fewweeks, stocking a range of organic foodincluding fresh fruit and vegetables. Andwho knows, further down the line, maybethat second branch in Kings Cross….
AVANI ORGANICS364 GOSWELL ROAD, LONDON EC1V 7LQ020 7833 [email protected]
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Allotment Slot By Michael Wale
How much can the allotmentmovement contribute to the localfood chain? If only we had some
more land, I would say we could providequite a lot. Under pressure in the Inner City,where the alleged New Conservative Greensare not doing us the expected favours, this isunlikely to happen just yet.
Nothing amazes me any more aboutBritish politicians. Green is the colour of thenew Tories, as they adopt an oak tree astheir symbol. In reality, in London, both thenew Conservative councils in Redbridge andEaling have done nothing for preservingopen space. Redbridge immediately relaxedthe planning protection for allotments andother open space in favour of developers, ifthey make a big enough bid. And in Ealingthe predatory Park Club have been given thego ahead to asphalt over open metropolitanland, as well as install a road overallotments. So the battles continue, and tothink I only took an allotment for'relaxation'!
As for contributing to the food chain Ithink that a certain percentage of park landneeds to be brought in here - and whatabout Wormwood Scrubs, which producedall sorts in the Second World War? It is partowned by the Ministry of Defence and theLondon Borough of Hammersmith andFulham, and is currently in a dreadful state.For a start it could produce fresh food for theneighbouring Wormwood Scrubs prison.
There is a rumour around that youcannot sell produce you have grown on anallotment. Sometimes it feels like there aremore rumours on allotments thanvegetables! In fact, it is up to everyallotment committee to form their own rules.Members of my own Acton GardeningAssociation can sell anything they want, andwe do buy eggs off one producer. It's £1 forhalf a dozen organic eggs, but then he has tobuy all the feed, and provide the hens, etc.Frankly by the time you have fed your ownfamily, there is very little produce left, andwe prefer to give to friends or the moreneedy, than sell it.
Land availability is the drawback. If wegot the backing of the new Green'Cameroons' we could supply local cafes andrestaurants. New roads, car parks andbuilding developments do not produce freshfood! Protected open space is all we need,and we will provide the seeds and the labourfor nothing. We already cook food for eachother with on-site barbecues. Last summerone of our Italian plotholders produced awonderful nettle omelette, with theingredients coming from a foot away. If onlywe could find a recipe that used bindweed!As for the food chain, we could do worsethan start with providing fresh and unusualherbs, and put nettle omelette on theLondon menu.
Michael Wale is the author of “ViewFrom A Shed: four seasons as an urbanfarmer,” £6.99, Allison and Busby,2006.
Credit: Pamela Troni
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Health in London The London Health Commission (LHC)launched its 2006/07 Health in Londonreport in April. This year's report presentsthe latest analysis and trends on 10 highlevel indicators of health including lifeexpectancy, infant mortality, education,housing and transport. The reportconcludes that much has been achieved inLondon in recent years in increasing ourunderstanding and raising awareness ofhealth inequalities and its determinants. Italso considers that there is commitment tohealth in London, and more concertedaction by a wide range of organisations.
The document shows that, overall,Londoners' health is continuing toimprove, as shown by increases in lifeexpectancy for both men and women anda decrease in infant mortality. However,considerable inequalities remain, and thisreport also includes the findings of anindependent research review of activityand progress by LHC partners to tacklehealth inequalities.
This is the fifth edition of the report,with previous issues available at the LHCwebsite: www.londonshealth.gov.uk/hinl.htm
KOFI OWUSU, 020 7983 [email protected].
Shop WindowFilling a Whole?Is Whole Foods coming into an
already overcrowded market? Willcustomers be swayed by the opulent
offerings of all things organic and turntheir backs on what the other supermar-kets have to offer? Or is it counting onluring away customers who werepreviously loyal to their local healthfood store or farmers market? WhereverWhole Foods customers come from, it iscertain that its arrival will send wavesacross London's, and even Britain's,retail environment.
At London Food Link, we are wellacquainted with the complexities of thefood supply chains around London. It isconceivable that we might see somemajor leaps forward in the supply oflocal and sustainable food with theinjection of investment that aheavyweight like Whole Foods couldbring to local logistics. Increaseddemand for UK produce would seem tooffer more security for producers.However, critics have already suggestedthat, as a large multi-national, it is justas likely as any other supermarket tosqueeze its suppliers' costs.
Whole Foods is already aware ofsuch potential criticisms and iscontacting a range of campaigningorganizations. Sustain has, for example,met with Wesley Rose and CarrieBrownstein, who work on fish suppliesfor the company. At the meeting, theyboth noted how much more widespreadengagement with ethical food issuesappeared to be in the UK, in contrastwith North America. This might meanthat Whole Foods’ phenomenal successin the US has been partly due to itbeing a pioneer in the area of ethicaleating. They also noted that each store(there is a plan to expand to fiftythroughout the UK) would employ alocal 'forager' charged with finding foodlocal to that store's location.
Having already received requestsfrom producers throughout LondonFood Link's network on how they mightengage with Whole Foods, it is clear thatthe coming year will see more activity inthis important area. Watch this space….
Ben Reynolds
This summer sees the launch of American super-chain WholeFoods Market’s first branch in the UK. Spread over threefloors of the former Barkers department store on High StreetKensington, this will be Whole Foods’ largest outlet in theworld. Is this good news for consumers, and the rest of thefood and farming system? Ben Reynolds wonders.
Credit: Charlotte Jarman
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Understanding FoodWaste…. A new study by WRAP (Waste & ResourcesAction Programme) has revealed theextent of the problem of food waste in theUK. This research, Understanding FoodWaste estimates that we throw away asmuch as a third of all the food we buy,half of which could have been eaten. Thistotals 6.7 million tonnes or 1/5 ofdomestic waste, most of which goes tolandfill, producing methane (CO4), apotent greenhouse gas. It is also wastesthe enery embedded in our food supplychain, which accounts for between 20%and 30% of UK greenhouse gas emissions.Food waste also costs us money,equivalent to £250-400 per household peryear.
The survey found that main causes offood waste were that we:
throw away more food than packagingbuy too much foodshop without a listset our fridges at too high atemperature so food goes off tooquicklythrow away food because it has passedits 'use by' date.
WRAP conducted a survey of consumers'awareness of food waste, and found thatmost people are not aware of the amountthey waste, with 90% believing they waste
though it remains fit for consumption. Ofthe estimated 500,000 tonnes of suchmaterial handled by retailers each year,the study estimates that 100,000 tonnescould be redistributed via Fareshare andsimilar agencies to those who otherwisewould eat poorly or not at all. The reportalso highlights that most organisations donot recognise the true cost of this waste.It includes human effort, capital, energy,and raw materials to manufacture and/ordistribute the food products.
The report suggests that the foodcompanies could be encouraged to redis-tribute surplus food if they recognised thatthe true cost of waste is far higher thanjust the cost of waste treatment anddisposal.
This report calls for companies todevelop clear policies and systems toincrease the amount of surplus foodredistributed to disadvantaged people.This would complement the significantstrides they are already taking to limitwaste going to landfill. The Governmentis also urged to take a lead in raisingawareness of the issue and work withcharities and the private sector tofacilitate the investment required to makethis happen.
For more information on the report,please contact Steve Burnett [email protected].
For more information on FareShare orto get a copy of the report, please contactMaria Olesen on [email protected] or on 020 7394 2467.
London's restaurants are missing out on abooming market for local and ethicalfood, according to a new report, OnePlanet Dining: London's growing marketfor eating out sustainably, published byLondon Food Link.
"In the coming years, more and morepeople will be interested in theprovenance of restaurant food - local foodand sustainability will be key," says GeetieSingh, founder and managing director ofthe world's first organic certified pub, theDuke of Cambridge in Islington."Restaurants that don't recognize this willbe left behind."
Despite inspiring examples like this,One Planet Dining found many others thatdo not communicate sustainability to theircustomers. Interviews with customersshow that they would welcome moreinformation, confirming food serviceindustry research showing that almostthree quarters of customers say they wantto see local foods named on restaurantand café menus, in particular, vegetables,meat and poultry. The few restaurants that
do promote sustainable food havebenefited from market differentiation,supportive media coverage, and increasedcustomer and staff loyalty.
Many restaurant owners, while keen toexploit this growing market opportunity,lack the information and skills to do so.One Planet Dining therefore recommends:
Training for caterers in how to find,buy and cook with fresh, local andseasonal food.Coordination of suppliers, andmarketing support for food producedclose to London, with improved localfood infrastructure and possibly a'Local to London' brand.Free environmental audits forrestaurants to help them identify waysto improve the sustainability of theirwaste, water, energy and food supply.Establishing a 'green restaurant'association.
One Planet Dining is available inhard copy or online atwww.sustainweb.org/publications/
'little food'. In another survey, householdskept a diary of the food waste theyproduced in a week, and 2/3 weresurprised at the amounts they recorded,especially inedible raw food waste, whichcould be easily composted.
WWW.WRAP.ORG.UK/RETAIL/FOOD_WASTE/INDEX.HTML
…and benefitingfrom food wasteA new study has found that a potential£635 million over 10 years could besaved by diverting and redistributingsurplus food products to disadvantagedpeople.
This report, 'Study on the EconomicBenefits of Waste Minimisation in theFood Sector', highlights the true benefitsof waste avoidance in the food sector andthe particular opportunities for surplusfood redistribution. The study, undertakenby Integrated Skills in cooperation withFareShare, the national food distributioncharity, also highlights that a further £800million could be saved over 10 yearsthrough waste minimisation efforts in foodand drink manufacturing.
The complex process of producing andselling food, along with shifts in consumertastes, generates substantial amounts ofsurplus food that is disposed of, even
One Planet Dining
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three miles away on a hillside overlookingthe beautiful Bodiam Castle. Mostly whitegrape varieties like Reihensteiner, Bacchusand Rivaner were grown originally, but in2000 Roy acquired four more acres atSedlescombe to grow an exciting new redgrape called Regent - a hybrid withexcellent disease resistant properties andthe right characteristics for making goodred wine in our relatively cool climate.More recently the Cooks have introducedanother new variety called Solaris - adisease resistant white grape developed forits high sugar content and aromaticqualities. Next year a further four acrescurrently "in organic conversion" will comeon stream from a recently adopted localvineyard, to bring the total up to 26 acresof organic grape production.
For the Cooks, the prospect of morewine production comes at an appropriatetime for their business, which hasexperienced a significant growth in salesthanks to the increasing interest both inlocal wines and in organics. SedlescombeVineyard has performed well over theyears, consistently producing wines thatgain the top EU "Quality "appellation andwinning a series of awards, including 'BestDry White' for its 2003 vintage and'Highly Commended' in the English Wine
of the Year competitions for both whiteand rosé 2004 sparkling wines, its Regentdry red and, most recently, a Bronze for its2005 dry white.
The white and red, still and sparklingwines, made from Sedlescombe's ownestate grown grapes are complemented bya number of fruit wines, juices and cidersproduced from local organic fruit, tocomplete the high quality, full flavouredrange of drinks for which Sedlescombe isfast becoming recognised.
SedlescombeOrganic Vineyard
Responsibilities in the vineyard areequally divided, with Roy in chargeof wine production and Irma taking
care of sales and much of the administra-tion. Together the Cooks will, later thisyear, be celebrating their 25th year of wineproduction on the land Roy originallyinherited from his grandfather.
No synthetic pesticides or herbicidesthat could pollute the land and leave toxinsin crops are allowed in this East Sussexvineyard; instead natural methods of soilimprovement, weed and disease controlare practised to the benefit of bothhumans and wildlife. In the winery manyadditives used by conventional winemakers are forbidden in organic wineproduction while some, such as sulphurdioxide are only permissible in smallquantities, the maximum being less thanhalf of that allowed conventionally. Royuses a unique method of improving thebody and bouquet of his wines, which hebased on an ancient gothic text hediscovered while working in Germany!
The importance of land The original vineyard at Sedlescombecomprised 12 acres of inherited arableland which were supplemented in 1993 bytenancy of a six acre vineyard, located
Ordering
By phone - Freefone 0800 980 2884Online - www.EnglishOrganicWine.co.ukIn person - Sedlescombe Vineyard .Hawkhurst Road. Sedlescombe. E. Sussex.At a Farmers’ Market - numerousmarkets in the South East includingLondon.From a distributor -Vinceremos:Vintage Roots:InfinityFoods.More info:[email protected]
Vineyard proprietors Roy and Irma Cook pictured beside a planting of winter rape, beanand fodder radish grown among the vines, soon to be cut and used as "green manure" tofeed the vines while attracting insects and the wild birds that feed on them.
Local to London
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requested organic milk for his cateringdepartment, Medina Dairy was happy totake on the challenge of finding organicmilk at a price that Mike could afford.
OrganicAt first, Graham Ball found that littleorganic milk was produced in the southeast and much of this was processed atdairies owned by the national companies.To develop this market, Medina Dairypartnered with an organic dairy farmer co-operative in Hampshire to guaranteepurchase of all their milk at a price higherthan would be paid by the nationalcompanies. This made a relatively smalldairy like Medina the more attractivebuyer and gave the dairies a better deal.Organic milk already accounts for 8-10%of Medina FS sales and the company isnow also investing in organic processingfacilities at its dairy in Hampshire, justoutside of Portsmouth.
Conventional milk from local farmers isalso processed at the Hampshire dairy andsold in the south-east under the"Watson's" brand. Medina's investmentwill upgrade this dairy to include twoorganic processing lines. These new lineswill not only bring employment to thearea but also minimise wasted naturalresources with comprehensive reuse andrecycling systems that will include energyand water. Medina is also working with aBedfordshire organic dairy farmer toprovide technical and marketing supportand guaranteed purchase for "added-value" products such as yoghurt andbutter.
Future PlansMedina Dairy trucks are currentlydelivering composite orders of dairy,bakery and fruit and vegetables to publicsector caterers. Graham would love tobuild on this work and partner withregional producers to utilise MedinaDairy's 120 delivery trucks for transporting(or "back-hauling" as it's known in thetrade) fresh produce from south eastEngland back to Covent Garden for saledirectly into the London market.
Graham BallMedina Food [email protected]
Medina Food Service (FS) is a dairy supplier based atNew Covent Garden Market. Zeenat Anjari spoke toGraham Ball at Medina about what the company doesand how it came to do it.
Medina Food ServiceLocal to London
Graham Ball was originally amilkman, going door to door in theelectric wonders immortalised by
Benny Hill. He worked his way up fromdriving a milk-float for Express Dairies tolaunching a New Covent Garden Marketfoodservice division for Medina Dairy.Medina FS now turns over £12 millioneach year with deliveries including localand organic dairy products to Londoncaterers.
In 2004, Graham saw the opportunityfor a small dairy, close to the Londonmarket, that could distribute high qualitymilk to London caterers more efficientlyand cheaply than national distributors suchas Dairy Crest and Express Dairies. ButMedina's history started long before this.
Starting upIn the 1990s, the national dairies werealarmed by the drop in sales of milkdelivered to household doorsteps - moreand more customers were buying theirdaily pint from supermarket multiples oropen-all-hours cornershops owned byAsians. While national dairies werecompeting with each other for thesupermarket trade, offering low, lowprices, the Asian shopkeepers continuedbuying their milk at only 1-2p less thancustomers were buying from the milkman,making cornershops look overpriced. SoAsians working in the dairy industry, likeSardar Hussain and his brother, Azzambecame independent dairymen.
These newcomers saw how Asianshopkeepers, by not using their consider-able collective buying power, were badlyserved by the national dairies. TheHussains established Medina Dairy in1993 on an old Express Dairy site inWindsor, Berkshire. Medina offered fairprices and reliable service to the sizeablemarket represented by independent Asianshops, cash & carries and service stationconvenience stores. The Hussains listenedto shopkeepers' needs, expandingMedina's daily deliveries of dairy productsto include bread and pastries.
Since then, Medina have expanded toserve the public sector, with sales to publicsector catering departments now repre-senting 10-12% of Medina FS turnover.This has come in part through workingwith London's hospitals. When MikeDuckett of the Royal Brompton Hospital
June21st -24th Taste of London (see www.channel4.com/life/microsites/T/taste/index.html)24th Chiswick House Kitchen Garden Association working session for all the [email protected] Screening of Black Gold as part of London Fairtrade campaign and Fairtrade filmfestival, Prince Charles Cinema, 6.30pm www.fairtradelondon.org.uk (see p3)30th Gourmet Kitchen Garden Tour - Ham House, London (020 8940 1950 /[email protected])30th Viva's Incredible Veggie Road show www.vegansociety.com
July3rd LFL Members do - 4 - 7pm, Duke of Cambridge organic pub, Islingtonwww.sloeberry.co.uk/duke.html8th Chiswick House Kitchen Garden Association working session for all the [email protected] LFL visit to Lambourne End farm and Forest Farm Peace Garden (see p6)17th London Food Access Forum, Beethoven Centre, Queens Park, 2.00 - 4.30pm. 28th Gourmet Kitchen garden tour Ham House, London (020 8940 1950 /[email protected])28th - 29th Whitecross Street Market - Food Festival (see address below)
August4th Surrey Docks Farm festival, Surrey Quays Underground (see p7)7th - 11th Great British Beer Festival www.camra.org.uk/page.aspx?o=gbbf14th - 20th National Allotment Week www.nagtrust.org/page5.html27th National Kitchen Garden Day www.kitchengardeners.org
September7th - 9th The London Food Festival www.dewevents.co.uk/london-food-festival21st - 23rd Whitecross Street Market ties-in with World Car Free Day see www.islington.gov.uk/Business/Licences/StreetTrading/whitecross.asp22nd City Harvest festival (see p5)22nd - 7th October British Food Fortnight www.britishfoodfortnight.co.uk
Join London Food Link Now!The benefits of membership of London Food Link include:
The Jellied Eel, our quarterly magazine, with members’ news, fundingopportunities, and articles on London food issues, and membership of an e-mail group, to keep members up to date in between issues.One day’s free advice on using sustainable food/suppliers (normally £350a day), and a discounted rate thereafter if more advice is needed.Contact with and support from other members, with a wide range of expertise,through our twice yearly network meetings.Influence on London’s policy making processes, through LFL’s extensivecontacts and policy development experience.Membership of LFL sub-groups e.g. the London Food Access Forum, to discussand devise solutions to food access problems. 50% off hard copies of London Food Link publications, and a free copy ofthe Bread Street report (normally £10). Discounted rates on forthcoming events.
To join London Food Link or for further details contact:c/o Sustain, 94 White Lion Street, London N1 9PF. Tel: 020 7837 1228. Fax: 020 7837 [email protected] www.londonfoodlink.org
London Food Link members and supporters include:Primary Care Trusts, London boroughs, business associations, retailers, farmers,environment and community groups, food access partnerships, allotment groupsand food writers. Our work is guided by a working party of key London-wideagencies and groups representing food issues from farm to fork.
Diary
OUR WORK
To represent around 100 national publicinterest organisations working at international,national, regional and local level.
OUR AIM
To advocate food and agriculture policies andpractices that enhance the health and welfare ofpeople and animals, improve the working andliving environment, promote equity and enrichsociety and culture.
The Jellied Eel is the magazine of LondonFood Link coordinated by Sustain: The alliancefor better food and farming. It aims to keepreaders abreast of developments in the foodand agriculture policy arena that have animpact on London. Sustain takes every effort tosummarise and reproduce accurately theinformation in The Jellied Eel. Inclusion of anymaterial does not imply that it forms part ofthe policy of Sustain.
Zeenat AnjariMulticultural businesses and [email protected]
Rosie BlackburnGood Food on the Public [email protected]
Emma HockridgeGood Food on the Public [email protected]
Ben ReynoldsLondon Food Link network, policy [email protected]
Charlotte JarmanSustainable restaurants and [email protected]
s u s t a i nthe alliance for
better food and farming
SUSTAIN: The alliancefor better food and farming
94 White Lion Street, London N1 9PFTelephone (+44) 020 7837 1228Fax (+44) 020 7837 1141Web: www.sustainweb.orgEmail: [email protected]
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