One of the delights of being Jamie’s website editor is that I have forged friendships and contacts with some outstanding individuals and communities who are doing their part in promoting the importance of growing, cooking and eating good food. This site is a platform to keep these discussions alive and promote the great work in this field. The wider food community is at the heart of the site and as a way of focusing all of our efforts I have started a monthly networking group called “Breakfast of Food Champions”. We have held our first meeting and here is a round up on the news from the participants.

Seb Mayfield from Capital Growth
The Capital Growth campaign offers practical advice and support to communities around London, and helps people get access to land to create successful food growing spaces. We are currently supporting over 450 growing spaces across London and are accepting applications for in-kind support for people who want to set up a community project. Any space that registers now is then entitled to apply for a small grant for their space when we next run a funding round. Capital Growth is aiming to support 2,012 new community food growing spaces in London, by the end of 2012. In order to reach our target we are looking for commitment from as many borough councils as possible. We already have commitment from five London borough councils (Camden, Lewisham, Islington, Lambeth and Haringay) to each support 60 new spaces by the end of 2012, as well as the commitment from the housing association Hackney Homes to do the same. We also have a partnership agreement with Transport for London in order to match their unused land with community groups who want to use it.


Ange Morris from Fifteen London
Fifteen is in the midst of some great changes, which allow our charity to take on a much bigger remit; in January 2010 our charity ‘Fifteen Foundation’ became the Jamie Oliver Foundation, which means that we can impact more young people, especially when it comes to our outreach programme. It’s our mission to raise the awareness of the importance of nutritious food and cooking and their impact on the lives of everyone, especially children, and other groups of vulnerable people. We do this through assistance in education, training, and employment. Effectively, what this means is that all the great campaigning work of Jamie Oliver will come under this new charity structure and will include Fifteen and its apprenticeship scheme along will Jamie’s American Food Revolution.
On the restaurant side our aim for 2010 is to become much greener, as such we’re looking at ways in which we can be more sustainable in everything we do. Most importantly a greener business ethic will be passed on to the apprentices in which we teach. On the retail side we’re looking at some interesting projects such as another knitting kit using the wool from our lamb supplier and glassware made from recycled wine bottles used in the restaurant. In terms of ‘made on site’ projects we’ve looked at having our own bee hives (which we’d still like to explore) and a project whereby we’d grow our own micro cress for the restaurant (such as coriander cress and Shiso cress). For Fifteen we’re still in our infancy in many ways so we’re keen to do as much ‘joined up thinking’ as we can, as such we’re open to ideas.

Myles Bremner from Garden Organic
Garden Organic helps get people growing, and to do so in the most sustainable way. We have great resources available for schools, projects in local areas, and significant membership benefits. We run the Heritage Seed Library, which is a unique seed collection of over 800 heirloom and heritage varieties of fruit and veg. Members can access this collection which is not commercially available. Our major campaign for 2010 is the One Pot Pledge, firmly aimed at people who want to have a go at growing something for the first time - we'll give you all the facts, hints and tips you need, as well as great offers to get you started. Make that pledge today!

Jane Riddleford from Global Generation
Global Generation is dedicated to giving young people opportunities to play a part in creating a sustainable future. Our projects focus on three interdependent themes of 'I, We & The Planet'. This approach increases awareness of self, community and the natural environment and instills young people with the confidence to generate change in the business and local community. Global Generation teaches how urban spaces can be used to produce food and how to grow vegetables in unusual places to co-create a space in which a shared sense of vision towards the future can grow. We are partnering with ULC Food Junctions (www.food-junctions.org.uk) to arrange some free workshops on urban gardening – Saturday the 24th April at Kings Cross Central Central Skip gardens. You are warmly invited to experience a few hours in the skip garden ….learning about soil, plants and yourself, followed up with participatory art and a guided tour to an Office Roof vegetable garden and all for free! Please email info@food-junctions.org.uk to register.

Rob Cox from Rocket Gardens
Working within the community is at the core of Rocket Gardens’ ‘Dig for the Future’ schools campaign which aims to get every school in the UK growing their own vegetables by 2012. So much so that BT, a sustainability partner of the London 2012 Olympics, is now backing the project. As well as sponsoring £25,000 worth of Rocket Schools Gardens, BT has a volunteer force of over 10,000 BT employees who are willing to donate their time to schools who would like a bit of help getting their schools garden off the ground.
Rocket Gardens is the easiest and most effective way of introducing children to the joys of growing and eating the freshest, tastiest and healthiest fruit and vegetables available. By delivering plants at the perfect time for planting, we’ve done all tricky bits, leaving just the fun and excitement of growing their own, with almost instant results. Within an hour of receiving their box of plants, the class can be well on their way to producing their own organic fruit and vegetables. We also provide growing guides and lesson plans for teachers so that even those with no experience will succeed. We have taken great care to choose plants that harvest during term time, ensuring the pupils’ enthusiasm continues right through the process- from plant to plate.

Stephanie Wood from School Food Matters
School Food Matters is a registered charity. Our core goal is for every child to enjoy fresh sustainable food at school and to understand where their food comes from. We do this by urging local authorities to look at the way they source food for school meals and by promoting food education through cooking, growing and farm visits. Perhaps the ultimate food growing project is a school farm. This is a great time for school farms with more school farms opening than closing - a welcome reverse in trend - and numbers now up to 74 across the country. Over the past two years, School Food Matters has been supporting gray Court School in Ham to put together a proposal for the introduction of a three acre farm into their school grounds. Whilst we are waiting for funding, work has already begun on the horticulture side of things with the gray Court Community Allotment. SFM will be highlighting the great work of school farms at the Real Food Festival (7-10 May at Earls Court). SFM has joined forces with the School Farm Network to present The Real Sausage Challenge! The Real Food Festival is all about quality food, prepared lovingly by small producers, so we’re asking school farms to produce a festival-worthy sausage which will catch the eye (and the taste buds) of an award-winning celebrity chef. Three short-listed schools will be invited to come along to the Real Food Festival and the winning schools will each receive a wonderful addition to their farms. May the best sausage win!

About the author: Danny McCubbin is the website editor for JamieOliver.com

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