Colonic Colonialism

I never thought that living in Italy would have such an acute impact on my eating habits. I never thought I’d eat as much, or considered that meat would cease to be an option. I never thought lard would be hiding in my bread, potatoes and pastries, and I never would have contemplated liking it…

Before Italy, local or seasonal food did not enter my mind in preparation of dinner, and now that I am a born again semitarian, how is it that I still cant manage to bring myself to have British food whenever I’m in London? Its probably not that difficult a question. Good food at a reasonable price is calling my ‘anything but Italian food’ deprived palette, which is how I found myself having dim sum, curry, krispy cremes, Thai and Mexican, with the odd salt beef sandwich to even out the food map.

This should keep me going for a while.

A creature of habit, London is the place I perform my food rituals; my curry, my dim sum, my Thai, my Japanese- an annual top up for my cravings with the occasional stab at something new. With each visit I return to old favorites, and abandon others in favor of satisfying my curiosity.

The aromatic hectic-ness of China town is where I go for dim sum, year in, year out, and the juicy stack of salt beef on a radish slapped rye bread (with a side of pickled gherkin) is a must stop at Selfridges food hall. Curry has no specific location, as long as all the favorites are on the menu, and they always are and since the book came out Ottolenghi’s is on my list.

This is my newly added loot:

Broadway Market- local market, good vibes, live music, Jellied eels, Vietnamese sarnies, fresh produce, food stalls, breads, pastries, canal, nice shops.

Primrose hill’s Melrose & Morgan- a grocery shop and kitchen, they provide hand made, high quality seasonal and local goods. British best, be it the bright coloured fresh salads, in house sausage rolls and pastry as well as carefully sourced ice creams, tea, coffee, dairy products, fruit, wine and chocolate …I’m sure I’m forgetting something. The jams. I happen to know where the blackberries that make a certain blackberry jam are sourced. Can you say that about the jams you buy? Or any other foodstuff for that matter?

Another discovery was the joyous bursting burrito at Chilango, prepared from scratch by a human conveyor belt. It was good. And big. I would have bought half the portion, but this is not an option as they would then only make half the profit, which is probably why one can’t buy half a portion.

Leon is a fast food chain. What makes it different from any other fast food is that it is freshly prepared, tasty, healthy and inexpensive. So it's better.

All topped up, I am heading in the only possible direction.

vers le bas, Sud. à plus tard.