The Food of London

"This is probably my favourite. It was written in 1856 by George D­odd, a Victorian historian, and is about how the London of his day was fed. The extraordinary thing about The Food of London is that when it was written London was on the cusp of changing. He was observing all the ancient traditions, which came from London feeding itself as a pre-industrial city, coming to an end. For instance, he talks about the piggery in Kensington where pigs were still being bred in the city: there were two pigs to every human! The piggery was only closed down two years before he wrote his book. Likewise, there is this amazing description of the livestock market. He describes the ‘Great Day’, where all the cattle which were being fattened in Islington were driven down St John Street to Smithfield to be sold in the Christmas market. It’s such a strong image; 10,000 livestock in one space in the centre of London – people got trampled because there was no space."