London: Borough Market

One of my favorite culinary experiences in London was Borough Market. We went on a Friday morning, trying to avoid the craziness of the weekends, but it was surprisingly crowded. It was a particularly exciting market because so little of it was just produce. Don't get me wrong, I love good produce just as much as the next foodie, but there's something to be said for more multi-faceted markets.

Borough Market has everything from artisan cheeses, pastas, olive oils to home made jams and and sauces to food stalls selling almost every type of food imaginable. It's a little hard to stay too long at this time of year because its outdoor and so darn cold outside, but I couldn't tear myself away! I couldn't afford to buy much, but I got a lot of ideas (example: mushroom pate, made with tons of raw mushrooms and good olive oil and herbs).

Another fun fact? The British are very generous when it comes to samples. Almost every stand allowed you to sample their products (and duh, who am I to refuse?), without any pressure to make a decision and buy something. After sampling anything and everything we could get my hands on, Nayereh and I stopped for a nice, organic wheatgrass shot and then had an amazing lunch of halloumi burgers, made with shredded vegetables and soft, chewy Halloumi cheese. You could have it with a bun, but I opted for salad, and was pleseantly suprised to see they gave a little of several different types of salad including one with bulgar wheat, a beet salad, and a shredded carrot (how French!) salad. Amazing!

it was impossible to get a shot without people rushing by, but now you can see the hustle and bustle atmosphere of the market (a contrast to the mellowed out Nice markets)

so many types of apples! i opted for hot apple cider with fresh ground cinnamon instead.

the most creative sauces and jams you can imagine. i loved the redcurrant, rhubarb, vanilla jam.

yerba mate and the traditional cups/containers it's drunk in

pestos and tapenades that i wish i could bathe in

nuts, nuts, nuts

the organic juice bar we stopped at for wheatgrass shots

wheatgrass, in the process of being picked to juice

chlorophyll, minerals and vitamin-rich wheatgrass shots