A fascinating celebration of all things food and memory is due to take place at the University of Roehampton on Saturday November 15.

The event will see a range of food related activities taking place including a workshop on how to become a food writer and blogger, a lecture on the origins of the Victorian dinner party, a contemporary dance performance, and a screening of a film about the experiences of staff in ethic restaurants.

There will also be a memory banquet which will include a tasting menu and discussion on how food has played a key role in our lives from the first things we ate as infants through to funeral foods.  At this banquet, diners will learn about the myths and truths around brain food, learn about food cultures and share memories and milestones on food in their lives.

Growhampton will be harvesting some of our delicious fresh leaves from our edible campus to supply a lovely salad for the memory banquet. We love growing a range of different leaves and blending these together to make some interesting salad mixes. At this time of year we’ll be blending some leaves from our polytunnel including lettuce, wild rocket, tat soi, leaf radish and spinach.

Growhampton will also be joining forces with The Urban Orchard Project and running tours of our orchards followed by an apple juicing demonstration. Together we’ll be discussing all things orchard lore, recipes, tastings and memories of London’s lost orchard heritage. We have two orchards on campus one of which is almost 100 years old planted in circa 1920s and a younger orchard around four years old.

Last year the old orchard produced an abundance of apples and we harvested over 250kg. A group of students and staff had the opportunity to press these apples and made the most delicious apple juice which we shared with everyone at our winter wonderland end of term festival in early December.  

This year, at the memory banquet festival, we will be running the orchard tour and apple juicing demonstration from 3.30-5pm – its free to attend but it is essential to book in. Follow the link on the right to book into any of the sessions.

Joel
Joel Williams is the Grower for the University of Roehampton Students’ Union’s Growhampton project