I think one of the best parts of this trip for me so far has been experiencing London’s market culture, a fascinating blend of different nationalities, products, cultural identities, and of course, food. Yesterday’s trip to Borough Market was particularly food heavy, with stalls lined up on every wall, creating an intricate maze of scents that one could almost taste. This market is also one of the most packed ones we have been to yet, to the point where I actually got trapped at a stall selling fish as I could not fight against the current of people moving through. Being stuck between a fish stall and a crowd was not the most ideal circumstance, especially considering the very powerful smell that fish gives, but it was a bit funny to me after about the two minute mark of waiting there. The Borough Market was centered entirely around food, unlike many of the other markets, such as Spitalfields or Camden, which made it feel more like a farmer’s market than the others as well, as more people went there to shop for groceries or a small treat, rather than making a day trip out of the experience. Rather than seeing artists and jewelry stalls, I instead saw massive amounts of stalls selling cheeses, baked goods, fish as I was made all too familiar with, and spices (I also saw a small barbershop tucked behind some larger stalls, which kind of threw me for a loop, but seemed almost natural there). There were very few performers around this market, with the closest thing to a performer being one guy shouting above the noise of the crowd giving out samples of mushroom risotto, which I did not end up trying.
Now I did end up trying a lot of other things, however. For instance, I tried a meat pie for the first time at Borough Market, which was really good. It had a filling of chicken, ham, and leek which, along with the pie crust, had a really good flavor all around (this meat pie is also the only picture I took while in Borough Market). I had never had a meat pie before, with my only real knowledge about them coming from Sweeney Todd, which is not exactly a great knowledge base for what it would be like. It looked pretty good at the stall, however, and seeing as it was about six pounds rather than the ten I was seeing at other places for food, I decided to take a shot with it, and was not disappointed at all. After my lunch, I walked around Borough Market searching for something sweet to follow my meal with (have to make sure to keep a balanced diet, of course). I found one cheese stall that was also selling ice cream, but I did not end up buying that ice cream for a somewhat stupid reason. You see, at the stall, they had a sample plate for their blue cheese. Being the curious man I am, I, having never in my life consumed straight blue cheese, decided to grab a sizable chunk and pop the whole thing in my mouth at once. It was pretty good.
But it was very
Very
Very strong.
Strong enough that not only can I still kind of taste it while writing this blog post, I actually walked away from the stand, my brain so foggy that I completely forgot what I originally went up to the stand for. I also lost track of where my friends were around this time and ended up wandering the market for roughly another ten to fifteen minutes before they called me trying to figure out where I was.
After I joined back up with them towards the entrance of the market, I found another, cheaper ice cream stall selling ice cream made out of goat’s milk, which I happily took a scoop of. Overall, it was a pretty good day for my inner Food Network Judge.
Theatre in London U of A 