London with all its communities is so interesting when it comes to food.

And the local shops with their unsual ingredients have always being a massive attraction to me. I get very excited when I find an ingredient that I haven’t used before or one that I won’t find in supermarkets. To me it’s like finding treasure. I feel very  lucky to be  living close to Green Lanes  and Turnpike Lane with all its Turkish, Polish, Italian and Indian little shops. For years now I have been playing with their ingredients in my kitchen and I’m keen to share the results.

This Tour aims to explore a different kind of shopping and to make you more confident when it comes to buying food that you are not familiar with. We’ll discover the softest feta cheeses, the very little salted olives, unusual pulses and grains and seasonal vegetables, from artichokes to aubergines, to chards and the most incredible and colourful tomatoes. We will learn, among other things, how to spot a good watermelon and to recognize the unusual fruits and vegetables that you won’t find on the supermarket shelves.