On Monday 29th October the University of Manchester went to visit one of the growing sites of Manchester Veg People with three chefs who have recently started to buy veg from the cooperative.
Manchester Veg People is a veg cooperative of made up of organic growers based across the Greater Manchester area (including Ormskirk) and buyers from around Manchester which includes the University of Manchester. The University has been buying from the cooperative for over a year now and has started to introduce fresh Manchester organic veg into 3 halls of residences on the Fallowfield Campus. These restaurants, between
them cater for over 600 students.
The chefs visited Glebelands City Growers, based in Sale, where they were able to talk to the growers who supply the University with organic and seasonal salad. They were also able to taste the salad leaves and see where it is grown to give them an idea of where it has been before it ends up in their kitchens.
Deborah Kermath (the head chef for Tower restaurant): We are proud to be working with Manchester Veg People to provide fresh, local, seasonal and organic produce into the halls and it is great to be able to meet the growers and work closely with them in order to provide high quality produce for our students.
Charlotte Mason (a grower at Glebelands City Growers): We're delighted to be supplying vegetables to The University of Manchester - they're as enthusiastic about high quality, sustainably grown produce as we are. We're really looking forward to developing this partnership and getting as much local, organic food out to as many students as possible.
The day was extremely successful and helped to show University managers and chefs the important work the cooperative are aiming to achieve of providing fresh organic and local veg sold at a fair price to ensure growers get a fair wage. The University has recently announced that two more restaurants will start buying veg from the cooperative on the Victoria Park campus catering for between them another 600 students.
Both the University and Manchester Veg People are excited by the challenge of providing more organic fresh food to support catered halls and to give the students a fresher higher quality produce with a very low carbon footprint.
Thank you to Alexander Clark- Environmental & Sustainability Officer for the Directorate of Student Experience for writing this article.