But no more. The most exciting food in New York, San Francisco and London isn’t happening in restaurants with Michelin stars, but on the streets. Independent producers fueled by both the economic recession and rise of local, artisan foods  have started producing exciting morsels to sell on the streets and at festivals.

Whether inspired by the food of their childhood – like Urvesh Parvais, who, with his mother Lalita Patel, developed Gujarati Rasoi to sell ‘traditional wholesome Indian food’ at three London street markets – or a love of a particular cuisine, you now can find everything from Vietnamese bánh mì to Mexican burritos during a stroll through your neighbourhood.

The young, educated and out-of-work seem to be the majority of vendors at Greenpoint Food Market, which is held on monthly Saturday mornings in Brooklyn’s Church of the Messiah. Each vendor pays $25 to $50 for a table, which goes to the church and the organiser. Any profit made on Korean dumplings or cupcakes is the vendor’s to keep.

Some products have already been snapped up by large retailers like Whole Foods. For dedicated food producers on a limited budget, this means they can develop a viable business without having to partner with a commercial food company which may not share their food values.

Petra Barran of Choc Star, which sells chocolate treats from a converted Scottish ice cream van, set up the website Eat.St as an online hub for those who already run, or want to start up their own mobile food business.

And while the movement is still in it’s early days, London is already about to host its second annual street food awards (10 – 12 September) judged by prominent British chefs like Mark Hix, Thomasina Miers and Marco Pierre White. New York’s ‘Vendy Awards’ have been going strong since 2005.

With street food enabling young entrepreneurs to start a profitable, ethical venture and provide consumers diverse, delicious and affordable food, the movement is one where everyone wins. Except the greasy hot dog vendors.

Useful websites:

Gujarati Rasoi – www.gujarotirasoi.com

Choc Star – www.chocstar.co.uk

Eat.St – www.eat.st

Gourmet magazine’s street food guide – www.gourmet.com/food/street-food-guide

Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Now the market is the country’s most important retail market for fine foods and shoppers come from all over London and beyond to stroll round the market and buy organic meat, cheese, fruit, vegetables and patisserie from enthusiastic and knowledgeable stallholders.

You can spend hours on end walking past food stalls sampling the many delicacies on offer. Personal favourites of mine include a stall call Acqualagna, who make the most amazing truffle oil using only fresh ingredients and fresh truffles with no preservatives or artificial flavourings.

I can also highly recommend La Tua Pasta, who make the finest and freshest Italian pasta working with specialist pasta chefs and using carefully selected and imported ingredients of the highest quality from the most respected Italian providers.  All their pasta is handmade to traditional Italian recipes. Once you’ve sampled their gnocchi agli spinaci (spinach) and tagliolini al raggio di sole (saffron and lemon) you will never ever be able to eat supermarket pasta again.

Borough Market 
Borough High Street
London
SE1 9DE

Opening Times: 
Every Thu 11:00 AM – 5:00 PM; Fri 12:00 PM – 6:00 PM; Sat 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM

image: http://londonalamode.com/media/1/20060604-DSC00591.JPG