Coming Soon: A new way to shop local In Leytonstone

The Food Assembly launched in the UK in 2014, connecting customers directly to local producers – and it’s coming to Leytonstone on 13 April.

Shoppers will be able to order food online at the website or via the Food Assembly app, from local farmers and makers, all based less than 150 miles away.

The Leytonstone Food Assembly offering will include bread from Better Health Bakery, cheese, chutney and juices from Old Hall Farm, jams, oils and vinegars from Organic Lea, meat from Marsh Produce and beer from Signature Brew.

We talked to Ashleigh Brown and Alison Shine, the foodie twosome behind it – friends since they met on the dancefloor at university in 2008 – to find out more.

How does the Food Assembly work?
The online shop opens on Thursdays, and you have until midnight on the following Monday to place your order online to collect your food from the assembly at The Red Lion on Wednesday. The online shop for the first Assembly (launch on Wednesday 13th April) will open on Thursday 7th April.

How long have you both lived in the Leytonstone area?
Ashleigh: Almost two years, and it’s the most connected I’ve ever felt to a part of London before. Moving from Hertfordshire, the emphasis on community here is much stronger than my past experience in other places, especially with environmental groups of amazing people who are committed to changing our broken food system and inspiring others to live in a more conscious way.

Alison: I’ve only lived here for the last eight months, during which time I have been warmly welcomed into the community. I grew up in a small village in Staffordshire, and so having a strong sense of community is very important to me. What I really like about E11 is that it doesn’t feel like the rest of London. I love its mix of green open spaces and thriving local businesses.

Where did your interest in food and food supply system come from?
Ashleigh: One of my best friends, who had recently turned vegan, told me why he had made his choice by suggesting I watch a series of documentaries about our food system. After the first one, Food Inc, I was shocked, appalled and hooked, and charged through the rest in a week, learning about everything from organic to GMO, pesticides to climate change. I’m now passionate about working with the millions of other people around the world who are changing our food system for the better too. We visited the Roman Road Assembly for a pop-up taster session, which was really fun, and provided heaps of inspiration.

Alison: Growing up in a small farming village, I knew where my food came from, whether it was veg from one of the two local walled gardens, or eggs from the lady down the road. I feel like this connection is really important, and wanted to share that closeness with my community here. I do not have formal food industry experience, but that’s what’s so great about the Food Assembly model. All you need is passion and a knowledge of why our food system needs to change, as well as links to your community, and you can run a small successful food initiative with the support of the Food Assembly network.

Whose idea was it to bring the Food Assembly to Leytonstone and how long has it taken you to set it up?
Ashleigh: It was my idea as I knew some of the people who work at the FAHQ through other contacts. We began working on developing our idea in November, but seeing as we both have day jobs it didn’t happen immediately. We wanted to make sure we could reach out to as many people to join in as possible, in order to make the journeys to our Assembly viable for our producers.

What do you do outside of the Leytonstone Food Assembly?
Ashleigh: We both work in the charity sector. I work as a project officer for a charity that helps libraries flourish in Africa and the middle east, and Alison works as a care coordinator at Age UK, checking in on the elderly and vulnerable in the Ilford area. Bringing farmers and people together in a harmonious move towards a better world is something that really spoke to us. So many of the issues that we face in the world today centre around food that we felt the Food Assembly was a perfect way to improve the wellbeing of everyone and everything all at the same time. We’ll be looking to expand – we have new producers discovering us and asking to join all the time; we spoke to three new people last week alone. We’re very excited for April 13th.