London Feeds Itself

London is often called the best place in the world to eat – a city where a new landmark restaurant opens each day, where vertiginous towers, sprawling food halls and central neighbourhoods contain the cuisines of every country in the world. Yet, this London is not where Londoners usually eat. There is another version of London that exists in its marginal spaces, where food culture flourishes in parks and allotments, in warehouses and industrial estates, along rivers and A-roads, in baths and in libraries. A city where Londoners eat, sell, produce and distribute food every day without fanfare, where its food culture weaves in and out of daily urban existence.

In a city of rising rents, of gentrification, and displacement, this book, edited by the food writer and editor of Vittles, Jonathan Nunn, shows that the true centres of London food culture can be found in ever more creative uses of space, eked out by the people who make up the city. Its chapters explore the charged intersections between food and modern London’s varied urban conditions, from markets and railway arches to places of worship to community centres. 25 essays about 25 different buildings, structures and public amenities in which London’s vernacular food culture can be found, seen through the eyes of writers, architects, journalists and politicians – all accompanied by over 125 guides to some of the city’s best vernacular restaurants across all 33 London boroughs.

Contributors: Carla Montemayor, Jenny Lau, Mike Wilson, Claudia Roden, Stephen Buranyi, Rebecca May Johnson, Owen Hatherley, Aditya Chakrabortty, Yvonne Maxwell, Melek Erdal, Sameh Asami, Barclay Bram, Ciaran Thapar, Santiago Peluffo Soneyra, Virginia Hartley, Jess Fagin, Leah Cowan, Ruby Tandoh, Jeremy Corbyn, Dee Woods, Shahed Saleem, Amardeep Singh Dhillon, Zarina Muhammad, Yemisi Aribisala.