With new restaurants, bars and coffee shops popping up on the daily in East London, one struggles to keep up.
But with my newfound Lady of Leisure status, I am determined to make up for lost time, starting with a brunch visit to Forge & Co.
Now there are so many reasons why my inner Shoreditch Hipster Geek absolutely love this canteen/cooperative/creative business collective.
When entering, it feels like you are suddenly miles away from the loud buzz of Shoreditch High Street. Gorgeous and open spaces with comfy colourful sofas perfect to spend a morning lounging about it in whilst solving the world's problems. The best description of the style is probably a very relaxed and cosy 1970's living room. Granted I wasn't around at that time, but I have decide that trawling through my dad's photo albums and watching That 70's Show every weekday after school for years makes me close enough to an expert. It's kind of like how I'm also an expert on the oil industry after having watched every single episode of Dallas.
Apart from a canteen style restaurant, there is also an excellent shared studio for those who rather work outside of the set standard of office landscapes and huge corporations but doesn't necessarily have the means or desire to rent themselves a conventional office space and instead work alongside like minded creative professionals.
Last, but everything but least, there's also a great focus on carefully, ethically and, primarily, locally sourced produce across the board. This was always going to be a huge selling point for me. With them brewing a lot of their own beer, picking up their coffee from the independent coffee retailer nearby and getting all their tea from a London based firm fully focused on ethical sourcing, the menu is basically food porn for someone like me.
So why this obsession with the origin of my food and drinks? I wouldn't know where to start but I will sure give it a try.
With people always chasing the cheapest deal on their Friday steak and their breakfast eggs they've seemingly have stopped caring about where this food is coming from and what it actually consists of.
Whilst Facebook is filled with loud protests each April ahead of the National Grand Prix with regards to the one or two horses ending up injured every year, the same people do not seem to be particularly concerned with broken limbs and panic amongst thousands of cows off to slaughter in the same tiny transport vehicle, the cows that are now in your child's Happy Meal. The same people also seem less bothered with the eggs in their Sunday pancakes coming from hens shut in sheds so small that they resort to cannibalism and that said hens spend their lives in the dark and virtually die of shock at the sight of daylight.
Not only are animals generally treated better at smaller farms, but by buying produce from farmer's markets and shops with an ethical mind set (The Grocer and Abel & Cole are great examples) you don't only support a fairer treatment of animals. You also increase your odds of getting less added hormones and pesticides in all that you eat as the control within the UK is obviously stricter than the control of the background of your food from Poland, Argentina, Spain or wherever it might be. These additional substances have no place in your vegetables, fish and meat and although we can not be certain of the side effects, cancer continues to be on the rise and puberty is creeping lower and lower down the ages of kids. If not too bothered with your own well being, perhaps think about the potential impact these added products will have on your kids in the future.
Also, look at your country's economy. Small to medium firms are falling apart across the board as they cannot compete with the cheaper providers abroad whilst maintaining the laws and regulations from within their own country. As prices are pressed down from foreign providers, they will naturally increase elsewhere to allow local producers to make ends meet. The more you buy your products locally, the cheaper they will be getting in the long run.
Forge & Co is a great example of a company supporting the idea of local and ethical produce without preaching to their guest - I instead decided to do it for them!
Expect me to be hanging out here a lot over the next few months.
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| How cosy is this? |
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| Gorgeous dining space |
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| Now that's contrast for you. |
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