Meet Kate McKenzie - organiser of Eat Me Drink Me food market

A new street food market will be launched in Ealing next week.

Starting on Friday 27th February a collection of street food trucks and stalls will pitch up in Town Square, Ealing Broadway Shopping Centre.

Every Friday (until 17th April + excluding Good Friday) some of the brightest names on the street food scene will serve up tasty treats throughout the day – from pulled meats to vegetarian and gluten free – there’s something for everyone.

The woman behind the new market is Kate McKenzie - originally from Cornwall now lives on Madeley Road in W5..

Having had careers in marketing, PR and hospitality, two years ago she decided to set up her own business. She tells Ealing Today about it.

In 2013 I made the move to concentrate solely on the festival event management and food side of my work and my company kmc² Ltd was born.

I specialise in project managing festival guest areas and booking street food & bars for festivals – including Wireless, Calling & Download.

Through this I work with street food traders on a daily basis, so to set up Eat Me Drink Me and organise my own food events seemed like the next natural step. Ealing felt like the perfect place to do it.

I have had jobs in the food & drink industry since I was 14 - you name it, I’ve done it. Street food is a huge trend across London and the UK and I spend much of my free time heading to street food & farmers markets.

I love the feel good, friendly atmosphere, the incredibly fresh produce and the range of food for sale. I love chatting to stall holders, seeing their own passion for food and discovering new menus. I have met so many interesting people and made new friends. I love it when a trader surprises me and I find myself drooling over their food when I didn’t think it was my cup of tea. It really is possible to eat fantastically well from street food trucks & stalls and for it to not burn a hole in your pocket.

I’ll often find myself basing a dinner that night on what I find at a market – coming home with everything from fresh fish to cheese to pasta. Having a job that requires me to try so much fabulous food is absolutely brilliant – it’s like I’ve managed to combine a hobby with work, I’m very lucky, I wake up every day loving what I do.

Ealing is a great place to live, but one of the things I think it’s missing is street food. Most parts of London have street food markets, but not Ealing, so I felt it was time to rectify that.

Working at home I miss being able to grab some street food – to head down to one of the many markets & either get my usual or try something new.

Eat Me Drink Me will offer quality, flavour and variety – a tasty meal that’s easy on the wallet (dishes starting at £5), that’s made by people who are equally as passionate about food.

Markets are great ways to bring a community together – eating has always been a time when families & friends come together, and of course everyone enjoys eating good food. People use markets to meet with friends, head along with work colleagues, take the kids or pop out on their own to stock up on goods and be part of what’s happening in the area.

As our markets develop, we also want to start give opportunities to local cafes, restaurants & producers who haven’t traded before. The Ealing Broadway market is just the start our plans for Ealing – my team and I are already in talks for a monthly weekend market in the area and hope to be able to release details soon.

For more information see www.eat-me-drink-me.co.uk or Twitter: @EatMeDrinkMeLDN

17th Feb 2015