All Things Considered

Borough Market
Posted by Kate Sullivan

It will come as no surprise to the readers of this blog, that I LOVE FOOD. People who don’t ‘get’ food, baffle me. How can people not care what they eat? When I shop, I gaze at the contents of people’s trolleys, and often wonder how interesting it would be to be a till girl. I was told recently by a checkout assistant that I had the healthiest shopping she had seen all day. I was pleased, but then I was in Asda…

At the other end of the food shopping experience to Asda is Borough Market, and boy, is this a shopping experience to savour. This culinary emporium is situated next to London Bridge in the borough of Southwark, which for the past 250 years (actually 2,000 years read more here) has been home to wholesale fruit and vegetable traders. More famously now, it is a foody haven, especially at the weekends.

The market became more well known in 1998, when writer and campaigner of Food Lovers Britain Henrietta Green, invited 50 British food producers to sell their wares at a 3 day event held at Borough Market. The success of this market was instant and it soon became a weekly fixture, selling top quality foods from around the British Isles along with some International destinations too.

I often dream about escaping Norfolk and the place I often wish to be, is Borough Market. I would start the day (early) at The Monmouth Coffee Company on the edge of the market, drinking the tastiest coffee made with the creamiest Jersey milk. I would sit, sip and gaze at the produce and plan by route and my meals for the next few days. I then head in, eyes on stalks, nose twitching confused about whether to turn left or right…what if some one buys the last sourdough loaf, or the queue at the Brindisa hot chorizo stand is too long to stand still for?

The handmade chocolates, pastries, fresh seafood, organic meat, fruit, vegetables, beers, puddings, preserves, cheeses is overwhelming, almost too much for me to cope with. At this point I’m relieved I have left the children behind but have had the sense to bring a huge rucksack; you definitely either need one of them or a granny trolley, as one thing you don’t want to have to deal with, is not having enough hands to carry your exquisite produce home.

Posted by Kate Sullivan on April 26th, 2007