About the London, City of Markets and trade Walk in London
From Pepys to Defoe to Chaucer, London has always been portrayed as vibrant commercial center, where food and trade are the substrata of city life. Today, with its docks and financial district, London is still at the fulcrum of food, trade, and finance.
Angel to Eastcheap, Nose to Tail
Starting at Angel (the tube stop is named after a coaching inn used by drovers on their way into London) we will begin our journey by revisiting some of the key sites in the commercial and culinary history of London.
We begin with a stroll through Islington, once used as a place to refatten animals after the journey by foot to market. Until the 18th century, St. John Street was used as the main route to Smithfield; today, we can still imagine the sea of animals that were daily flowing down this road.
Before entering Smithfield, we will stop by the famous St. John's restaurant and discuss the resurgence in ‘Nose to Tail' eating, as championed by the chef at St John's, Fergus Henderson. From here
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From Pepys to Defoe to Chaucer, London has always been portrayed as vibrant commercial center, where food and trade are the substrata of city life. Today, with its docks and financial district, London is still at the fulcrum of food, trade, and finance.
Angel to Eastcheap, Nose to Tail
Starting at Angel (the tube stop is named after a coaching inn used by drovers on their way into London) we will begin our journey by revisiting some of the key sites in the commercial and culinary history of London.
We begin with a stroll through Islington, once used as a place to refatten animals after the journey by foot to market. Until the 18th century, St. John Street was used as the main route to Smithfield; today, we can still imagine the sea of animals that were daily flowing down this road.
Before entering Smithfield, we will stop by the famous St. John's restaurant and discuss the resurgence in ‘Nose to Tail' eating, as championed by the chef at St John's, Fergus Henderson. From here we will visit what remains of the 1000-year-old livestock market, now barely surviving as a working meat market in the shell of a Victorian building. Accompanied by quotes from Oliver Twist, we will consider the importance and ubiquity of livestock in London – the expense of vegetables, the use of manure, and the proximity of people to animals, both dead and alive. We will also look at the use of animals as moral metaphors in Early Modern England, and the survival of those ideas after reformation and the interegnum.
We will move onto Aldersgate Street to see The Worshipful Company of Cooks' hall, and discuss the idea of a centralised food economy, and the effect of apprenticeships and livery companies in London. We will then continue through backstreets onto Cheapside and Leadenhall, London's first enclosed market, located on the site of a Roman Forum. As a medieval market, it was initially a market for people from outside London, who came into the city selling poultry and cheese.
From here we will move onto Eastcheap: a Medieval meat market, and the site of several 19th century warehouses for spice, tea and coffee, some still extant. We will finish our journey on Pudding Lane, or (time permitting), by crossing over to look at Old Billingsgate Market, now a corporate events building, and discuss the changing role of the food market following more modern innovations like steam trains and refrigeration.
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