Magnificent Markets

Jubilee Cupcakes!

Even though today is the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, which was wonderful enough that it will get its own post shortly, I wanted to post a little bit about what I did on Friday and Saturday of this week- explore Portobello Road and Borough Market.

Portobello Road is located very close to where I am interning at James Media, which is how I stumbled upon its location. It is basically a small road in Western London, where dealers, merchants, artists, and growers bring their wares, art, produce and other foods to sell in an outdoor market. They set up small booths on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, and the entire neighborhood really comes alive. We went on Friday, and it was an absolutely beautiful day. The heat has left London, thank goodness, but the sun was still sticking around and so it was a great day to explore this colorful and lively London street. There were multiple dealers selling antique jewelry, which was beautiful, and a few vendors that specialized in antique English tile. Many of the tiles were between 80 and 150 years old, and one would never know it. The colors are extraordinarily vibrant, and the clear protective glass coating on top of the colors were barely scratched or cracked. It was amazing. There were also many young artists, particularly ones that specialized in prints, that set up tents and were peddling their work. Their prints ranged from quintessential English sayings and pictures, "Keep Calm and Carry On," and Big Ben, to ones a bit more off-beat, "Keep Calm and Put the Kettle On," and pictures of street art. I myself picked up a few prints of vintage advertisements, and an artistic representation of Hamlet (I am such a sucker for Shakespeare!). 

Specialty Olives at Portobello Road

My favorite part of the market was, however, the food (shocking!). There was everything from home made breads and cakes, to pastries, salads, fruits, falafel trucks, and butchers. I went with JR and BD, and since B has a more serious caffeine addiction than anyone I know, almost immediately upon arrival we were looking for a coffee shop with urgency. We ducked into a small one, Gail's, and while B got her customary coffee, J and I decided to try small samples of the home made bread the cafe was known for. She got a croissant, and I, a brioche with cherry tomatoes, goat cheese, and basil. It was incredible. The bread was baked perfectly, the goat cheese was salty, tomatoes sweet, and the basil fresh. We emerged from the cafe determined that our mid-morning snack was going to be the best culinary experience of the day- and it didn't take too long for us to be proven wrong. When we stopped for lunch, I elected to go to a falafel truck, J got a baguette with avocado, mozzarella and tomatoes, and B got- you guessed it- another cup of coffee. My falafel was amazing! It was fried in front of me, and then wrapped up in a whole wheat pita with lettuce, tomato, pickled turnips, grilled eggplant, fresh tahini and some sort of spicy middle eastern sauce. Incredible!

One entrance to the Borough Market, with
The Shard rising up behind it in the
background

The next day, we headed out to Borough Market, which is in Southern London. Borough Market is very similar to Eastern Market in DC, but about 50 times larger (that is no exaggeration). It was so large that it had to be split up into separate sections, and it was primarily vendors selling various types of food and drink. There were some that sold more general products, like produce, and some that specialized in fresh squeezed juices, "drunk" cheeses (ones that are soaked in alcohol as part of the process in which they are made), salted beef sandwiches, or specialty baguettes. It was absolutely packed, which made it difficult to really get a feel for the entire market, since we were mainly concerned with making sure we didn't lose anybody in our group (KK, BD, JR and myself).

To make it even more interesting, the Market was mostly located underneath train tracks, so it felt as though you were in an underground world every time the train rattled above you. You could hear people on the streets and bridge above, and walking through the stalls in the market and hearing the noise above gave the entire experience a very secret feeling. The market's history dates back all the way to 1014, when it was located near the London Bridge. Parliament closed that market in 1755, and a group of Southwark residents raised 6,000 pounds to purchase the ground that the market stands on today. The picture above of one of the entrances of the market is particularly interesting with the building behind it- known as The Shard- which is about to become the tallest building in Europe, and will be completed by the end of this summer. This juxtaposition of an ancient market and modern architecture really represents the entire city of London, where there are historical old buildings next to ones that were built after the bombings in the Blitz, or ones built recently. The city has been able to create the feeling that as you walk down any given road, you are simultaneously in the present, past, and future.