There are a lot of ways of getting your vegetables. The supermarket is one, markets, home delivery, Food Assemblies or just your local greengrocer.
In Stretford, we lost our last local greengrocer a while ago, and so our need for fresh fruit and veggies means a trip to Chorlton, or just sucking it up, and buying from Tesco across the road in Stretford Mall.
And that’s where Mr GFB and I have a problem. I’d prefer to buy from a grocer and get those items that I can from a local source, however, working 9 to 5 (or 8:30-4:30pm in my case) means that actually making it to a grocer before they close on a week day is difficult. Throw in regular match traffic and it’s downright impossible.
Luckily we’ve seen the arrival of the Food Assembly in Stretford and for those of us who work in or around the University of Manchester, the Veg Box People, who have a collection point on campus.
We started with the scheme way back at the beginning, in April last year. Since then we’ve collected a small box (almost) every week, filled with great local produce – currently we’ve been enjoying bags of apples and pears, kale, fresh salad (yes, grown locally), carrots and beetroot. We collect on a Tuesday during the day (12pm to 5pm) from the van just off Oxford Road, and can take home a bag full of goodies, as well as buying eggs from Abbey Leys Farm and bread from Trove at the van to top up too. It’s just an easy way to shop – and it’s not just open to University staff – anyone can register.
Earlier this week, the team behind the Veg Box People held an event at the Greenhouse Cafe, along with some of their growers and supporters, inviting current users of the scheme and newcomers to the idea to meet one another, chat and sample some food created by chefs from Food on Campus using items from the latest box.
We began with an introduction to the ethos behind the scheme from Chris and Helen, part of the Kindling Trust. The Trust works with local producers, from big farmers to learner growers giving them support and providing training, all the while coordinating the sale of the produce to local restaurants and the University. But they didn’t want to stop there. They wanted to create a sustainable way of growing that everyone could get involved in. This led to the creation of the Veg Box People, the Land Army (a group of volunteers who help the growers in a range of ways, from planting to harvesting) and the Commercial Growers Course (for those wanting to move from their allotment or small holding into something bigger).
Martin Smith, the Executive Chef for Food on Campus, explained that the staff on site love knowing where the food has come from. It arrives on site still dirty, fresh from the fields, and their challenge it to turn it into something delicious.
The food created by the team was fantastic, and shows the
And what happens to the food people forget to collect? The Veg Box people are making it easier, by extending the collection times – you’ll now be able to collect from the convenience store housed in University Place, all the way through to the end of the week.
And still, if you forget or miss out, it goes to Food Cycle – a space in Longsight that creates a full three course vegetarian meal from the ingredients, which is then served to anyone who goes along – giving those in food poverty a free, nutritious filling meal and saving on food waste.
We loved meeting so many people passionate about sustainable food in our city and beyond, and enjoy not only the great fresh food, but the challenge of cooking and eating seasonally. I’ve learned lots of new recipes (another blog on that to follow) and feel better knowing we’re doing our bit to help, even if we have occasionally forgotten to collect our bag of veg.
Can’t wait to see what we get next week.
The food and drink consumed at this event was paid for by ourselves.