Streets Paved With Gold

At British Street Food, we have a dream. A dream that one day the men with their rusty metal handcarts – and ‘sausages’ from a can – are chased from our streets forever. Leaving their overfried onions trailing along behind them.

Now that London is the focus of the world’s media, it’s a dream that just won’t go away. But things on the streets of the capital have never looked better. The councils have been doing their bit to clear up the city’s public spaces – even the bright yellow incident tape that normally surrounds Shepherds Bush Green every Saturday morning has been taken down and put in a cupboard for a few weeks. Which leaves a lot of pavement to enliven with the best in British street food. Exhibition Road in South Kensington is all svelte and suave.

For nine days – from 28 July to 5 August – the entire stretch is being taken up with music, dancing, games, brass bands, drums, bars and….Eat Street! Well, in that jazz tradition, it’s actually ‘Eat Street and friends’ – a total of 20 traders in all. With cocktails from Soul Shakers. Don’t miss it. Have a look here. But if you do, make sure it’s only because you’re out at other street food events at Haggerston Park in the East End, Red Market in Old Street or in Greenwich Park down South. Make sure to go and say Hi to Soul Brother Number One – Jonathan at Café Mor – who is waving the British Street Food Awards flag INSIDE THE OLYMPIC VILLAGE ITSELF.

Serving athletes and stuff. A proper storming-of-the-barricades type situation. According to insiders, the queue for his seashore wraps is visible from space. Check out the best of the rest here. So here at British Street Food, we’re not as depressed as we might be about the state of food at the Olympics. And I said as much to MSN. Besides, it’s all good practice for the traders selected for the REAL gold medal event – the British Street Food Awards on 15-16 September.