Two of the many important life lessons I learnt at university were:
1: When you're a student, unlike when you live with your parents, food doesn't automatically replenish itself and it doesn't fail to ever go off (mainly because my father is over paranoid about sell-by dates).
2. Cheese is very expensive.
As I was now out of cheese I decided to set myself the challenge of filling my lunchtime sandwich with cheese for free. Luckily for me I knew the best place to go to do this......Borough Market.
Borough Market is today located near Southwark Cathedral and London Bridge tube station. However, it was first mentioned in 1276, although the market itself claims to have existed since Roman times and was subsequently moved south of St Margaret's church on the High Street. The City of London received a royal charter from Edward VI in 1550 to control all markets in Southwark, which was confirmed by Charles II in 1671. However, the market caused such traffic congestion that in 1754 it was abolished by an Act of Parliament.
The Act allowed for the local parishioners to set up another market on a new site, and in 1756 it began again on a 4.5 acre (18,000 m²) site in Rochester Yard. During the 19th century it became one of London's most important food markets due to its strategic position near the riverside wharves of the Pool of London.
The present buildings were designed in 1851, with additions in the 1860s and an entrance designed in the Art Deco style added on Southwark Street in 1932.
A refurbishment began in 2001. Work to date includes the re-erection in 2004 of the South Portico from the Floral Hall, previously at Covent Garden which was dismantle
d when the Royal Opera House was reconstructed in the 1990
Stallholders come to trade at the market from different parts of the UK and traditional European products are also shipped over and sold. Amongst the produce on sale are fresh fruit and vegetables, cheese, meat, game and freshly-baked bread and pastries. There is also a wide variety of cooked and snack food on sale for the many tourists who flock to the market.
On a Saturday the market is open from about 9-4pm. I wanted to get there for my lunchtime so I could get all the free tasters (or at least enough to fill my sandwich). The market itself is quite expensive, but it is the closest thing London has to countryside produce without leaving the city.
Laith, who had never been there before, decided he wanted to go too, so I met him by London Bridge Station. We stopped in a cycle shop because he was still looking for a new bike, although he told me he had an ebay bid on one already, and so would tell me later if he got it. We went to the market and I managed to try:
- Eight different types of cheese, sometimes more than one of each, including a parmesan cheese that had taken three years to mature.
- Three different types of home made organic pestos.
- Two different Sicilian olive oils and a Sicilian marmalade.
- Two Different types of Jam, including a strawberries and cream flavour.
- A type of gluten free cereal mix and
- A black and then a white organic truffle oil.
Finally there was a stall with nacho pieces in front of a selection of spicy dips they were selling, ranging from mild to seriously hot. Now to me, and anyone else lacking sensibility, this sounded like another challenge. Considering I had once eating a giant ball of wasabi whilst in Tel Aviv (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEiAMnsy8Ug&feature=related), I decided this should be easy. It was quite hot but not really in comparison to the wasabi.
As for Laith, I think he felt it a bit more than me.After I had taken my fair share of food we went to the fruit section where I had some free watermelon and pineapple slices. We both encountered the same slightly strange feeling of being full, but not really believing what we ate could of made us full. For this reason Laith wanted to go to a restaurant instead. On the way I noticed a man wearing quite a strange outfit, although he vanished around the corner before I had a chance to look again. As I walked past I noticed he wasn't alone. Waiting outside a pub near London Bridge station were the "Crownstones". A group of Morris dancers originally from Huddlestone in Hertfordshire, who first met in the Crown pub.
I got my picture taken because I had nothing better to do:
After Laith had his lunch I went home to see my cousin Mercedes and her friend Adriana who were back for the evening. I cooked the second of three portions of my tuna risotto I had left in the fridge since Wednesday and wrote up my blog. I then had a phone call from Laith telling me he had bought his new bike and so would give me his old fold-up one for free on Monday. I then went to bed, as I had to be out the house early to help setup for my 12 year old cousin's birthday party in Wembley.Spent £108.02
For more information on borough market watch the video here http://www.visitlondon.com/attractions/detail/285604 or go to the official website here http://www.boroughmarket.org.uk/
