New Head Chef Lola Demille Brings Her Sustainable Spice Trail Hackney Wick

We’re so excited to announce a new phase in our kitchen as Lola Demille joins the team as Grow’s Head Chef. With her, Lola brings 15 years in restaurants, cafes and community charity projects, as well as running her own catering and pop up ventures.  Lola shares our passion for our sustainability and community and runs workshops to empower people with skills in cookery and growing vegetables, and volunteers when she can with food related community projects. 

Lola’s passion for travel and experience in the kitchen has led to her to carving her own style of fuss free, fresh and healthy cooking, mostly plant based and is inspired by the dishes of the Middle East, Southern Europe and North Africa. 

Lola says:

‘I like to make simple but delicious and affordable food that’s nourishing, in the true sense of the word, and also challenges the corrupt food systems determined on keeping us fat, ignorant and compliant for their own profits. We cook/ eat everyday, and how we do this can be a form of activism, whether or not we chose to use supermarkets, we buy air freighted produce, we eat meat, etc.. For me, this is sourcing responsibly, using minimum animal products, reducing waste, using local and seasonal produce and so on.

When I am not cooking, I love to travel, and this has always impacted my cooking a lot, I love to hunt down the street food or rural cuisine or workman’s cafes wherever I am and try what people are really eating day to day. This is my way to celebrate other cultures, and when you look further into the history of what and how we we eat, you realise how much connects us, no matter where we are from. 

My particular love is food from the spice trail, especially Turkey, Iran, and the southern Mediterranean. everyman’s food made using humble ingredients elevated with evocative spices and herbs. I use this ethos of in my own cooking, combining seasonal, british or produce with interesting cooking methods or flavours’.

Lola’s new menu is available from Friday 17 January and is inspired by the spice trail. Come to Grow for lunch and dinner for a modern take on street food and rural cuisine, with an emphasis on sustainability. The menu is seasonal and primarily plant-led and we’re working use small independent businesses who share our values.