La Trompette to Source Veg from Local Social Enterprise

Local restaurant gets on board for Cultivate London food fundraiser

Cultivate at work at Turnham Green

Cultivate London, which helps train young people to find work in horticulture, has attracted the attention of a top Chiswick restaurant. Michelin-starred La Trompette is now buying vegetables and salads from Cultivate's Salopian Garden in Brentford.

The two polytunnels behind the little car park off Brentford High Street have been turned over exclusively to salad growing to serve the needs of La Trompette. Head chef Rob Weston says,“As a London restaurant we don’t have acres of kitchen garden, but we are thrilled to be have Cultivate’s polytunnels in Brentford. I love that we can produce amazing fresh veg right on our doorstep.”

Cultivate now hopes that other local restaurants will also come on board in a similar manner.

Adrienne Attorp, Chief Executive of Cultivate London said“We are firmly emphasising the link between good food and growing both for La Trompette’s young kitchen staff and Cultivate’s apprentices.”

La Trompette is now collecting all its kitchen waste in collaboration with Indie Ecology to be turned into the wonderful compost that is proving the key to success. “With the best will in the world, restaurant kitchens produce huge quantities of green waste, and now I know this is going directly back into the soil I feel much better about it,” says Rob.

To celebrate this collaboration and show off the fresh veg, Rob and his Trompette team will be preparing a special solstice celebration to be held at Cultivate London’s Salopian Garden on the London Road in Isleworth. For just £30 there will be bucketloads of canapes, and cocktails, plus a sloe gin sun-downer. The event takes place on Tuesday, 20 June, 6pm-10pm.

Meanwhile Cultivate’s young apprentices are increasingly visible around Chiswick. Last week they re-seeded the wildflower meadow on Turnham Green and re-landscaped the gardens of Whittington Court in Edensor Gardens for the residents of the sheltered housing there.

May 25, 2017