London will host feast of celebrations
MONTH OF EVENTS TO MARK CITY’S STATUS AS TOP CULINARY DESTINATION
BRITAIN’S biggest food festival is being launched by the Evening Standard this summer to celebrate London’s new status as the world’s leading culinary destination.
London Evening Standard Food Month will see hundreds of events take place throughout June across the capital — from breakfast to late-night supper clubs. They will reflect the scores of exotic gastronomic traditions from around the world now represented on the streets of London.
The programme is being drawn up by food writers Grace Dent and Tom Parker Bowles, who are the festival’s creative directors. Dent, a restaurant reviewer for ES Magazine, said: “We’ll be eating the entire world, in one city, 24 hours a day. London loves food and we’re here to prove it.”
The centrepiece will be the Night Market, a bustling outdoor dining experience in a London park, inspired by the street food scene. It will run for 12 evenings from June 7 and feature up to 50 restaurants, food trucks and bars, as well as live entertainment. Full details, including the venue and ticket sales, will be announced in April.
As well as a celebration, London Food Month will use its influence to promote awareness of food waste and hunger in tandem with charity partner The Felix Project.
It also includes exclusive events with some of the most influential chefs from Britain and overseas including Massimo Bottura, owner of Osteria Francescana in Modena, Italy, who will be working with The Felix Project. He said: “London is a
hub of gastronomy and one of my favourite cities. Thanks to the partnership with The Felix Project, we will be able to create healthier meals from humble ingredients for those who need it most.”
Locals and visitors will be guided by Fay Maschler, the Standard’s longeststanding critic, who will publish a list of her 50 favourite places to eat in 2017.
Leading chefs and restaurateurs, including Angela Hartnett, chef patron at Michelin-starred Murano, welcomed the initiative as a long overdue recognition of London’s remarkable progress from laughing stock to powerhouse of world cuisine in little more than a quarter of a century.
Sam Hart, co-owner of the Barrafina tapas restaurants and Soho’s Quo Vadis, said: “Londoners have become r e s t au r a n t - o b s e s s e d . Wh e n w e launched our first restaurant Fino back in 2003 we had originally wanted to open a Barrafina, but didn’t feel that London was ready for a counter-only, tapas-focused restaurant.
“Now London’s food scene has progressed to the point that there are interesting and exciting restaurants opening every day.
“An event of this scale has great significance for the food scene and it is great for the Standard to recognise how important restaurants are to London’s culture right now.”
Nieves Barragán Mohacho, head chef at Barrafina until her departure at the end of this month, said: “The food scene in London and its diversity means that when chefs come, they stay put because nowhere can rival it.
“When I came I intended to stay for one or two years and I’ve now been here for 18 years. The fact that a big London publication like the Evening Standard is dedicating a month to food is really important. It shows everyone, at home and around the world, just how important re st aurants are in London.
I am very proud to be a part of it.”
Jason Atherton, the
Michelin-starred owner of restaurants such as Pollen Street
Social, said: “I regularly cook in five different continents, but London is definitely leading the way.
“We are so lucky here to have easy access to incredible ingredients from Scotland, Wales, Cornwall and the south of England, as well as from our neighbours in Europe. We have the best larder of anywhere and it really puts us ahead of the game.
“London’s food scene has boomed over the past 25 years, going from a gastronomic wasteland to the world leader it is now.
“When I was training as a chef everybody wanted to work for one of just a handful of top French chefs. There were two-year waiting lists for jobs with Marco Pierre White or Pierre Koffmann. That would never be the case now because there are so many great chefs and restaurants out there.”
Martin Morales, founder of Peruvian restaurant Ceviche, said: “London is number one when it comes to food. Way above New York, Chicago, Paris or Hong Kong. That’s because of the sheer variety, voracious competition, and hunger by its chefs and foodies alike. From street food heroes to high technique champions, from those who serve true tradition to those who create tomorrow’s dishes, London is the gastronomic capital of the world.”
Johnny Smith, co-owner of Italian restaurant Luca, said: “I love that London’s food scene has it all to offer: the restaurants, the talent and an adrenaline-like energy. Now it’s time for one of L ondon’s leading voices, The London Evening Standard, to help shine a light on it. London can stand shoulder to shoulder with the greatest food cities of the world.”
Foodie Instagrammer Clerkenwell Boy said: “It’s a very exciting time at the moment. There is so much diversity from street food to cuttingedge restaurants. An event like this will help dispel the myth once and for all that British food is just about sausage rolls and Sunday roasts.
“The whole industry is pushing to be better in terms of ethics, sustainability, reducing food waste and supporting future talent. That really excites me.”
The full schedule of events and official partners will be featured in the London Food Month programme that will be distributed with the London Evening Standard on May 2.
To register your interest as a business visit londonfoodmonth.co.uk. Registration runs from February 21 to March 22.