Bird is a new fried chicken restaurant that recently opened in London’s east end, and aims to elevate the food from its cheap, greasy and unhealthy image and give it a British twist; proposing yet another version of American-diner-pastiche wasn’t an option. The branding is cute, fun and original, and the rotating roster of illustrators for wall art is a really nice idea.
I was very interested to see the launch this week of an innovative use of neglected urban space; Local Garden is based on the top two levels of an under-used parkade in the middle of downtown Vancouver.
From their website—
Imagine if you could take an empty warehouse, a vacant lot, or an underused parking garage and in a 6,000 square foot area, sustainably produce as much food as a 5 acre farm. In any climate, using 92% less water than conventional field agriculture and no chemical pesticides. Now imagine it was better tasting and healthier than produce trucked from thousands of miles away because it was grown in a bustling urban area where it would be consumed.
I look forward to trying some of their crop soon. With so many spaces like this in every city, I can’t see how this isn’t a genuinely viable source of food for urban centres and not just another passing novelty.