Fresh vegetables grown at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew are being donated to a Twickenham community food project to help provide nutritious meals for people facing food insecurity.

Tomatoes, courgettes, potatoes, string beans, chard and okra are among the sustainably grown produce being delivered to The Real Junk Food Project Twickenham (TRJFP-Twickenham).

Every Tuesday during harvest season, Jane Rogers, Kew's Community Horticulture Coordinator, and colleagues deliver a selection of freshly harvested produce from Kew's Kitchen Garden, Community Allotment and Student Vegetable Plots.

The food is then used by TRJFP-Twickenham at its Community Café & Food Surplus Hub at ETNA Community Centre.

The project operates on a 'Pay as you Feel' basis and aims to repurpose food that would otherwise go to landfill, providing affordable meals to the local community.

Across all of its venues, TRJFP has so far saved more than 400 tonnes of food from waste and provided meals to more than 163,000 people, supported by more than 1,000 volunteers.

The organisation currently has more than 220 active volunteers, contributing over 1,000 hours of volunteering time each month.

Penny Vegting from TRJFP-Twickenham said the Kew produce had already been used to create dishes including roast vegetable pasta, tomato and lentil soup and roast potatoes.

"Our chefs really appreciate the opportunity to cook with lovely fresh produce to make delicious tasty and healthy meals for our clients," she said.

The partnership is also helping to connect people using the food project with how fruit and vegetables are grown.

Jane Rogers said many Kew Community Allotment growers eat at The Real Junk Food Project.

She recalled hearing about one guest explaining to another how courgette plants are dioecious, and how a lack of female flowers had affected the crop the previous year.

Vegting added: "That's the magic of connecting people with where their food comes from."

Hélèna Dove, Botanical Horticulturist and Kitchen Garden manager at Kew, said the donations were particularly rewarding following challenging growing conditions.

"It's rewarding to see the hard work of our Kitchen Garden team come full circle, with our fresh produce being used and enjoyed by the local community," she said.

"It's wonderful to know that what we grow here at Kew can make a real difference beyond the Gardens, bringing people together and helping to connect our community with seasonal, home-grown food."

More than 90kg of tinned baked beans have also been donated to the project after being used by Kew's team to test the strength of a giant waterlily leaf for the annual Waterlily Weigh-Off competition.

The produce donations will continue throughout the harvest season, with Kew's Kitchen Garden and Student Plots continuing to provide vegetables for the Twickenham project.

The Community Café and Surplus Food Hub donations form part of Kew's wider work with local communities.

Kew's Community Allotment provides horticultural and vegetable-growing opportunities for people who would not usually have access to them, with produce also donated to the Community Café.

The programme supports people facing physical, sensory, psychological or social barriers to visiting Kew and aims to develop practical gardening skills, self-reliance and wellbeing through connecting with nature.

Kew also supports more than 500 community groups from across London through its Community Access Scheme, which provides eligible charities and organisations with access to the Gardens.

The organisation has also marked a decade-long partnership with the Wellbeing and Recovery College, which has delivered more than 100 wellbeing sessions at Kew.

To learn more visit Kew Garden's website here.

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