The Food On Our Table

park café hölne
We are mostly local
We are mostly local. The park. The brass
band is local, and the sunshine and the
people are also local. Martin lives round
the corner and so do the vegetables - a
greengrocer, some 200 metres away. The
butcher in Bermondsey makes his sausages
and the rest of his meat is British too. Bread
is delivered from Greenwich and the juice
comes from Chegworth in Kent. Martin,
himself, German, like his beer. The salami
comes from Sardinia. We are mostly local.
Hamid is local, enjoys stewing aubergine
with courgette, but not so much red meat
or spices, he comes from a family of butchers.
And he’s right that the local fish in England
often isn’t organic. He cooks at his local home,
round the corner, and likes to come here.
The food is simple. affordable. European.
It is local, fast, fresh and healthy. Flavourful
low-waste, cooking into a community. Half
the staff here are also musicians, friendly.
The silent boy eats his brownie, the local
men talk around him. The sun is soft, and it’s
just-about still winter, the wind is sharply fresh.
The park here is local, the local children are
learning to skateboard, crowding into the cafe
after, in a joyful lunchtime rush. Sometimes
it’s the simplest things that are local. Here,
local laughter, and local grass, and, watch,
as the world turns its face to the summer.
Jamie Hale
The Food On Our Table 8
The Food On Our Table