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WILD AT HEART
Foraging has never been more in vogue, and it's surprising how much quality
produce can be gathered from within the M25. Su olk-based food events company
Food Safari (pictured right, foodsafari.co.uk) has started running urban foraging
excursions near Stoke Newington and on Hampstead Heath. Nick Saltmarsh, who
runs these trips, tells us that wild ingredients commonly found in the capital include
apples, blackberries, hawthorn, rosehip and wild garlic, along with many varieties
of mushroom. Chefs are in on the act, too. Forager (forager.org.uk), the company
that provided London-picked wild herbs for Noma's pop-up in Claridge's two years
ago, also supplies The Ivy, Jamie Oliver's Fifteen and Mark Hix's restaurants, among
others. Hix believes that: 'Foraged food is probably the most sustainable you can
get, not to mention some of the best avoured,' and notes that, 'If you pick it
yourself, then it's also completely free, which is great for a restaurant.' GOING
UNDERGROUND
If you thought the Northern line was all that ran beneath
Clapham, think again. One hundred feet beneath the
trains, Le Gavroche chef proprietor Michel Roux Jnr has
teamed up with experts Richard Ballard and Steven Dring
(pictured above with Roux) to grow vegetables in two
and a half acres of tunnels that were used as air-raid
shelters during the Blitz. 'When I rst met these guys I
thought they were absolutely crazy, but when I visited
the tunnels and sampled the delicious produce they are
already growing down there I was blown away,' said the
two-Michelin-starred chef who is now a director of the
company, called Zero Carbon Food (zerocarbonfood.
co.uk). As the name suggests, the subterranean farm
is carbon-neutral, with low-energy LED bulbs and a
high-tech hydroponic system used to replicate outdoor
growing (above left). The herbs, miniature vegetables and
edible owers will be sold to restaurants including Le
Gavroche, as well as at New Covent Garden Market.