Food Foraged Straight From Our Royal Botanic Gardens

Seasoned just to your liking

March 3, 2023 – Fresh, local vegetables make for a delicious meal – and the Kitchen Garden at the café is a great place to get them. Utilising a unique approach to farming, the Kitchen Garden minimises the use of chemicals and other inputs, resulting in vegetables that are full of flavour. 

Every vegetable is grown with love and care for the environment, and each week the harvest is collected and brought to the café in a wheelbarrow. It doesn’t come fresher or more local than that!

Not only is the Kitchen Garden a great way to find fresh vegetables, but it’s also an effective way to support sustainability and eco-friendly farming. By minimising the use of harsh chemicals, the Kitchen Garden is helping to improve the environment whilst providing healthier, tastier vegetables. 

With its commitment to sustainability and great-tasting vegetables, the Kitchen Garden at the café is the perfect place to get fresh produce.

Commitment to local sustainability

At the Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh, Sodexo Live!’s Executive Chef Steven is fully committed to sustainability and sourcing local produce. Covering over 300 square metres of land, the Kitchen Garden produces 1,000 metric kilos of produce each year; the equivalent of more than a tonne or 23 kilograms a week.

The Kitchen Garden has been certified organic by the Soil Association, and it produces its own compost, ensuring the highest quality of produce at every stage. 

By sourcing local, organic produce they are supporting small businesses and local farmers in the area. Add to that the focus on reducing food waste, and encouraging organic gardening, the kitchen's carbon footprint is reduced too.

You are what you eat

Sodexo Live! have been striving to provide the best quality produce to our customers for over seven years. Our commitment to sustainability ensures our customers that the food they eat is fresh, nutritionally enriched, and has come straight from the ground. Our customers really appreciate knowing this, too. 

We believe that ‘you are what you eat’. As we all know, healthy, nutritious food is essential for a healthy and balanced lifestyle and we take great pride in being able to provide this for our customers.