If, like me, you are old enough to remember when street food only existed in the form of six pen'orth of chips wrapped in newspaper or a less than average hotdog when the fair came to town, you cannot fail to be overwhelmed by the choice of takeaway food available now.
I can still recall my mother's horror at the idea of eating in the street and if she were alive today she would still maintain that it is undignified and vulgar. Living, as she did, at the seaside, she allowed the consumption of ice cream cones as a concession, but there the line in the sand was well and truly drawn.
I have to agree with her as far as drinking coffee is concerned - when did we get to the stage that we cannot make it from home to work or back again without an over priced, oversized and oddly flavoured coffee to sustain us? Walking around with a cardboard cup of coffee or a plastic bottle of water in your hand bestows no more status and charm to your appearance than cigarettes ever did. You are buying a myth and frankly, being robbed blind in the process.
As a child in rural Yorkshire, I found the opening of a Chinese restaurant in our small market town as exotic as it got and going away to university, I was excited and amazed to discover the thrills of Ali's kebab house - not something you found on every street corner back in the day and believe me, the quality then was far superior to the High St kebab houses these days. His fresh lamb shish kebabs with home made chilli and mint sauces were a real hit - without the buckets of lager needed to face one these days.
But now that every High Street bakery is offering takeaways - of varying levels of quality and interest, we have to accept that street food is here to stay.
Of course, the High Street has its fair share of franchised frightfulness, but everywhere you look new and appetising alternatives are arising and whilst I can feel the chill of my mother's disapproving stare, with every drop of sauce that dribbles down my chin, it cannot diminish my enjoyment.
Every gathering from rock festival to food festival now has the added attraction of great food............. and what a choice, from rare breed burgers to vegan falafel, taking in every continent and every course, quite literally from soup to nuts. The Good Life Experience, that we attended in September, was a prime example; toasties, vegan Indian, Persian, chips, bacon butties, pizza, and, best of all hot doughnuts with soft ice cream.
There was something for everyone and, of course, some wonderful beverages to wash it all down, our favourite by far being the Hepple gin.
And we are delighted by the successes of the guys at Breddos Tacos and the gals at Hang Fire SmokeHouse, whose street food was so successful that they have moved into bricks and mortar homes. Start small, grow tall.
The guys from the Cheese Truck company were dishing up the best toasties EVER!!
And we are delighted by the successes of the guys at Breddos Tacos and the gals at Hang Fire SmokeHouse, whose street food was so successful that they have moved into bricks and mortar homes. Start small, grow tall.
There is a wealth of culinary talent out there exploiting ready access to great ingredients and a growing enthusiasm from the consumer for good food, well cooked - as well as an appetite to try new things. Get out there and enjoy it, life's too short for bad food.
We've been lucky enough to supply some of our kit to street food vendors and caterers looking for the same qualities in their cookware as they demand in their food.
Our Kitchen Companion and a selection of pans are great for crepes, flat breads, steaks, sausages, burgers........
The slow cooker will happily keep food warm for hours without overcooking it - which has made it popular for buffets and barbeques too.
And if you haven't got access to electricity what about 7 hours cooking on charcoal on the outdoor hob or over a fire using the fabulous chapas. We used one of these at the Good Life to rustle up bacon sandwiches for the fabulous security crew.
If you are in the catering business, run a street food stand or simply want to cater for your friends in the back garden, check out our range of cookware and if you are interested in our trade catalogue, just give us a shout.
Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2017 ©
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