New Covent Garden Market celebrates British fruit and vegetable growers with British Food Fortnight.
It’s harvest, mid-September and therefore 23rd British Food Fortnight. The campaign began this year on 20 September and was launched in partnership with the New Covent Garden team.
British Food Fortnight was created to highlight and celebrate the work of British growers of fresh fruit and vegetables. With ‘The Garden’ celebrating the 50th anniversary of moving to Nine Elms, it is appropriate that the launch event, accompanied by the Harvest Torch, was staged in the Food Exchange.
The launch was designed to bring growers together with wholesalers and catering distributors, industry and government representatives and the media, with a common goal of showing support for British growers and the annual two-week showcase for domestically produced food and drink.
The launch breakfast was made with produce from Buyers’ Walk and cooked by Westminster Kingsway College students; as long-standing partners of the market tenants, the students are familiar with the fabulous range available on the market.
As well as sourcing all its fresh produce through the market, the college also receives two products a month free of charge, one homegrown and one imported, to help increase the depth of ingredient knowledge for each student.
The market’s wholesale traders work with a number of select growers from Great Britain and around the world to supply most of the leading caterers, hotels and chefs in the south of England. From Michelin-starred restaurants to family-run cafés, His Majesty’s Prisons to the Royal Households and from market stalls to secondary wholesalers, schools and hospitals the customer base is impressive.
For those who have not been to the market recently, it would be worth catching up with the wholesalers, many of them now in their new units.
The new, temperature-controlled Buyer’s Walk is open and looks fabulous, showing the best of British produce on the wonderful ‘shows’ at the front of units. The market is still a hive of activity in trading hours, as it has been since medieval times, the variety of produce is always astounding and, as ever, the banter rings out as the porters weave through the customers, collecting for orders and delivering to colleagues. It always has a great atmosphere, it smells fantastic and there are always some great displays.
The development is progressing, with the building works scheduled to finish in 2027. Despite the issues of the past five years, the site looks fantastic and it’s possible to see the shape of the final market, which is providing a world class facility for our tenants. I am certain someone wrote in similar terms 50 years ago when the original buildings were unveiled, but it’s great to see how businesses have adapted and grown into their new facilities.
The Harvest Torch will be at the Food Exchange until 4 October, when it will be moved, by the City Harvest team, to Southwark Cathedral ready for the National Harvest Festival Service on 6 October.
City Harvest, which is celebrating its first decade of making a difference, New Covent Garden Market, celebrating 50 years of feeding the capital from Nine Elms, and the British Food Fortnight team have together delivered a wonderful celebration of home grown produce.
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