Street Food = Good Food?

Having recently visited the Olympic Park to soak up the atmosphere and gaze open mouthed at the swarms of people wending their way through the carefully planted, landscaped meadows. I thought I'd do the dirty and moan about the food as everything else seems to be going so well. On my particular visit I found the food offering to be pretty mediocre and as you'd expect highly priced. I suspect the coffee was was made from water drawn from the Steeplechase water jump and pies were warm and filling but all flavour had been surgically removed somewhere along the line.  I didn't attempt to visit one of the four McDonald's apparently located on the park as the thought of fighting through those crowds was just too much. Don't get me wrong I've enjoyed a McDonald's burger on many occasions.  We all know that McDonald's and Cadbury's contribute to the games and it would be ridiculous to assume that feeding the masses could be done without them.  Or, would it?  Can you imagine a venue without McDonald's?  Personally, I think we took the easy option and if Danny Boyle had had anything to do with organizing food vendors at the games I'm sure we'd have had something far more palatable and interesting in our mitts.  As a nation we have so much to offer in terms of food.  Where was Jamie Oliver when we needed him most?  Perhaps, when it comes to food at large venues we're just apathetic, lacking in imagination and just too darn tired to care. 

Andy's Mum at EAT MY PIES!

Street Food in London has been growing at a fast and furious pace popping up in all sorts of places with eager vendors keen to fill the stomachs of office workers. All manner of weird and wonderful food offerings are appearing, some better than others. Companies have been closing their canteens or increasing prices to reduce subsidies, eroding benefits and ultimately pushing their workers onto the high street to fend for themselves and eat on the hoof.  

The variety of food available is huge and a recent visit to Kings Cross Station provided some delicious and interesting food offerings.  Andy's mum from Eat My Pies , sorry Andy's mum I forgot your name, was a delight providing a fantastic range of Scotch Eggs including, Black-pudding, Chorizo, Thai Red Curry and Haggis were amazing and freshly produced.  The egg yolk was cooked to perfection!  Pork, Leek and Ham Pie also went down a treat.  

Other stalls included The Ribman with his Holy F*~k chili sauce and portions of pulled pork that were so huge they could feed a small family for a week, Fleisch Mob with their Emmental Austrian sausage which oozed alarmingly but tasted delicious!  To finish off enjoy an ice cream from Sorbitium Ices, the Lavender, Chili Chocolate and Sea Salted Caramel flavours were fantastic and a great way to finish our little trip. Stall holders are knowledgeable and love their product with such enthusiasm that you just cant help yourself.  If you fancy working off some of those calories you can even enjoy a game of table tennis!

To enjoy Street Food you need to listen to the vendor, look beyond the surroundings and enjoy the experience.  Dive in, get to grips with those dribbling Austrian sausages and enjoy! 
Visit Eat Street for more information on stall holders and venues.