What I Ate Today

In preparation for our Christmas dinner, we embarked on a South London Food Safari.  The first stop was a Slow Food Christmas Market at the Festival Hall on the South Bank of the Thames.

I’ve heard of the Slow Food Movement before, and had a rough idea of what they were about - promoting traditional foods, biodiversity, quality, taste and sustainability.  This market was supporting Crisis Christmas.

There was a great selection of hot and cold food stalls – the aromas were great and the queues for hot pork rolls was immense but well worth it.  The Portuguese pork was marinated in honey and rosemary, spit roasted and served in a focaccia bun.  The crackling was not for the feint of heart!

We tried some great cheese, made by various local producers, wonderful pickles, chutneys, mustard and horseraddish which made you wince!  There was a chap selling mistletoe and apples – he had whole branches of mistletoe which was flying off his stall at Christmas time!

My Favourite producer was Patchwork Pate – a pate producer from North Wales.  We bought a truely splendid handmade duck liver pate, with apricot and brandy.  It was rich and smooth with a lovely sweet gamey flavour.

This was a great food market.  None of the fluffy stuff you often get a farmer’s markets – biodiesel, cushions and South American cheeseballs (all of which are fine in their own right, but out of place at a farmer’s market!).  Nothing but natural products, from independent sources.  I will definitely be looking out for more Slow Food events.