As part of my grand plan to practice what I preach this year and seek out interesting, challenging experiences close to home, I came up with what I hope will be a fruitful little project. I love travelling for many reasons. And I suspect that many of the kicks I get out of travel can be fulfilled without actually needing to travel to the other side of the planet.
London is an international city; one of the world’s vital hubs. So is it possible to travel round the world without even crossing the M25? This then is going to be a journey round the world foods of London. I’mm going to eat in one restaurant from a nation representing each letter of the alphabet. An A to Z of world food.
And who better to team up with for this project than the one and only Hungry Cyclist? Tom Kevill- Davies, aka The Hungry Cyclist, loves nothing more than travel and eating. As a food explorer, journalist, author and occasional photographer, Tom spends as much time as he can cycling in far-flung places seeking out the most delicious and interesting food he can find. His pedal-powered quests have taken him up the Mekong River, through the Americas and around Taiwan, but Tom can’t wait to get his teeth into London’s world of food.
Eating, drinking and socializing are such vital, distinctive parts of every culture, and integral parts of all great travel experiences. This A to Z is partly about sourcing superb, surprising food, partly about vicarious travel thrills (of nostalgia and of trips still to be done), and partly about the rich stew of stories we will hear from all the people we meet on our journey.
It is an open, fluid project: the nation and the restaurant for the next letter will be chosen only at the last minute (though Qatar can probably be fairly confident about being picked).
We want to try to cover the world of London as widely as possible. We are looking for countries from right across the world and restaurants all over London. But apart from that we will be driven mostly by whims, spontaneous hankerings, and mysterious tip-offs from exotic strangers. In other words it will be exactly like the best kind of far-flung adventures. Except that our world of food, and our A to Z of nations, will all be neatly corralled within the confines of the M25.
I will share each meal, each country, each letter on this website. If you would like to suggest a restaurant or a country please get in touch. We want to share each meal with different people who have been to the countries we choose, so keep an eye on Twitter for the next letter/meal/country.
First up is A. A for Afghanistan. I can’t wait!
£3.95 All you can eat vegan indian:
http://www.yell.com/reviews/indian+veg+bhelpoori+house-1o92p7l-r
Go hungry…
Sounds scrummy.
Kensington High Street for a nice long row of Persian/Iranian restaurants slap-bang in the middle of the main Iranian community in London (see, you can go twice!)…
This sounds like a great series. Will there be video included? For example, many people may not have see the act of slapping the taaftun bread dough and cooking it in the tanoor before in those Persian/Iranian restaurants.
yes, plenty of videos!
As one who is trying to eat only Turkish food in metropolitan Istanbul (why, because we’re only here once) I’m nostalgic for the variety on offer in London. We’ll be eating solely from regions of the world which we won’t be visiting when we’re back in London-town on a gear pickup run in early February. I look forward to the series!
Emma (www.rolling-tales.com)
Reckon there’s only one country for “O” (and it’s a good ‘un!)
Hope you’ll be around to join us for some Omani food…
Great idea! I wish I could participate.
Have fun.
Nico
Wow! What a creative idea? I sometimes do 180 degree tourism. Your idea clicks with me as a good concept.
I haven’t been to the country of my origin for ages now, but I like its food a lot. So P is for Pakistan for me and I suggest you try it too. When you are there, and I hope you are, try a course of Sindhi Biryani, Peshawari chapli kababs an Namkeen gowsh (salted meat), Balochi Sajji, if available, and finally Kashmiri chai. And if you happen to be in Toronto, do let me know. My wife is a contributor to the cookbook of a top American company. She contributed many of these recipe for it. She says she will love to cook them for you LOL.
Sincerely,
well done, both, for coming up with such a creative and wholesome adventure; a great idea, good format and deserving of wide recognition.
I enjoyed the first two countries and look forward to the remainder.
A group of friends and I started doing an A-Z culinary experiment of London last August, we have just had I and went to an amazing Persian restaurant in Covent Garden but now I know my next round will be O and I am desperately trying to find an Omani restaurant in London, no luck so far, any suggestions? Good luck with your continued adventure!
[…] is likely not the only project of its kind – in my research I stumbled across at least one other person who’s already been down this tasty, tasty road and has written a much shinier blog. […]
[…] A key part of Alistair’s proposition is exploring and enjoying our close to home. His microadventures have included walking a lap of the M25, walking home for Christmas and, my personal favourite (unsurprisingly), to travel round the world without even crossing the M25. How?  By eating in one London restaurant from a nation representing each letter of the alphabet. An A to Z of world food. […]
[…] the thesis of my friend Alastair Humphreys’ 2014 book Microadventures—and also the theme of a project he did years ago in which he tried to eat at a London restaurant from a country starting with each […]