BE honest, where did you do your last London grocery shop? Quite possibly online, to be delivered in a van, or, now that most of the major supermarkets have teamed up with Deliveroo, on the back of a bike. Much of the time, the pace of modern life makes it impossible to do otherwise, but when you’re as busy as we all are it’s easy to forget the wealth of jewel-like independent food shops the city has to offer, many of which deliver to the door.
Time was that every London high street had a butcher, a baker and a greengrocer at the very least. Although only the ‘villages’ (Hampstead, Chelsea, Dulwich) tend to have hung onto the full complement of these, their spirit lives on in the new crop of food shops. In a city where seasonal shifts can feel obscured, they offer a way of keeping in touch with Nature’s rhythms as you browse the shelves and crates —as well as the best delicacies from overseas, such as east London-based Forno’s maritozzi (Roman fluffy buns stuffed with whipped cream, facing page, top right), which people in the know traverse the capital for.
Italo, 13, Bonnington Square, SW8
Denne historien er fra August 02, 2023-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Denne historien er fra August 02, 2023-utgaven av Country Life UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Tales as old as time
By appointing writers-in-residence to landscape locations, the National Trust is hoping to spark in us a new engagement with our ancient surroundings, finds Richard Smyth
Do the active farmer test
Farming is a profession, not a lifestyle choice’ and, therefore, the Budget is unfair
Night Thoughts by Howard Hodgkin
Charlotte Mullins comments on Moght Thoughts
SOS: save our wild salmon
Jane Wheatley examines the dire situation facing the king of fish
Into the deep
Beneath the crystal-clear, alien world of water lie the great piscean survivors of the Ice Age. The Lake District is a fish-spotter's paradise, reports John Lewis-Stempel
It's alive!
Living, burping and bubbling fermented masses of flour, yeast and water that spawn countless loaves—Emma Hughes charts the rise and rise) of sourdough starters
There's orange gold in them thar fields
A kitchen staple that is easily taken for granted, the carrot is actually an incredibly tricky customer to cultivate that could reduce a grown man to tears, says Sarah Todd
True blues
I HAVE been planting English bluebells. They grow in their millions in the beechwoods that surround us—but not in our own garden. They are, however, a protected species. The law is clear and uncompromising: ‘It is illegal to dig up bluebells or their bulbs from the wild, or to trade or sell wild bluebell bulbs and seeds.’ I have, therefore, had to buy them from a respectable bulb-merchant.
Oh so hip
Stay the hand that itches to deadhead spent roses and you can enjoy their glittering fruits instead, writes John Hoyland
A best kept secret
Oft-forgotten Rutland, England's smallest county, is a 'Notswold' haven deserving of more attention, finds Nicola Venning
