Roman Road award-winning fruit and veg seller, Sahin
Eating & drinkingLocal

Roman Road home to five award winning fruit and veg sellers

Man holding box of pumpkins and squashes in a fruit and veg shop
Roman Road award-winning fruit and veg seller, Sahin

Following a successful campaign with The Food for Health team, Roman Road now has five gold-wining Food for Health fruit and veg sellers.

With 240 shops and 260 pitches Roman Road offers an impressive range of quality produce at affordable prices, much of which is cheaper than supermarkets.  The diverse culture of the road means you will find a wide range of produce from around the world as well as produce from British and local growers.

With autumn and Halloween upon us, new produce has now arrived in the form of squashes and pumpkins. These versatile vegetables lend themselves to a variety of dishes – warming soups, chunky curries and colourful stews – and are used in many cuisines including Caribbean, Asian, British and  – of course – American.

If you’ve never cooked with pumpkin before, try this simple dish: buy a quarter or half (pumpkin pieces are available at Ali’s Fruit and Veg store on Roman Road), remove the seeds, cut into small cubes, place in a roasting tray, drizzle with honey and roast for 25-30 minutes.  A tasty twist for the Sunday roast and packed with vitamins and minerals.

Mehmet Gurzel, owner of SimplyFresh on Roman Road and winner of the Reed Industry Award for Best Independent Retailer in the UK 2014, is selling squashes and pumpkins – both organic and regular – supplied by local grower, Perry Court Farm in Canterbury.

Mehmet said: “Roman Road is a great place to shop and I am pleased to be able to offer my customers the chance to buy great local seasonal produce.”

Other stores on Roman Road are also stocking up on their autumn produce – such as gold-award Sahin’s Fruit and Veg and Roman Road Fruit and Veg, silver award winners but they are pushing for a gold in this year’s awards.

Ali’s Fruit and Veg is selling pumpkin pieces for 80p per kilo or you could all out and try the organic Red Kuri squashes at £2.99 from Simply Fresh.

Remember, pumpkins aren’t just for Halloween!

Our local members

SimplyFresh

East London Liquor Company


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Tabitha Stapely

Tabitha Stapely is the founder of Social Streets C.I.C, a not-for-profit media company using journalism to strengthen communities, particularly those in disadvantaged or neglected areas. Prior, Stapely was a writer and editor for national titles including The Telegraph Saturday Magazine, Elle and Red magazines.

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