London: Spitalfields Market

I’ve always wanted to go to a market in London: inexpensive-ish clothes, food, books and odds and ends all thrown together sounds like heaven, doesn’t it?

We spent most of our time around North London this trip, so Spitalfields Market was in my sights. I thought I was sniffing out a non-touristy part of London, but apart from this neighborhood becoming trendy of late, there has been a market at this location since the 1600s. So I’m about 400 years behind the times, but no matter. Chinese steamed buns taste delicious either way:

Just look at all this marvelousness! There are stalls of all kinds: indie seamstresses hawking their wares, vintage Penguin paperbacks, bowler hats, leather goods. The stall on the left (below) sells garlands for your hair so you can get your boho look down; pastries galore to the right:

Oh the food! Apart from the steamed buns, Matt and I consumed roughly three lunches in the span of three hours. We went to Leon (post upcoming) and fell in love with a stall called Rainforest Creations. Everything is raw and mostly sprouted. I know, I know, sounds terrible. I would have whole-heartedly agreed with you three months ago, but even though it doesn’t win you over with words like “butter” and “bacon,” I swear it is delicious. It was fresh and wonderful (who knew raw food could have so many flavors apart from “green” and “greener”?) and the colors are just amazing. We loved it so much we went back for seconds and bought thirds for dinner:

Still attempting to be a conscientious consumer on all fronts, I went easy on the buying: tricky thing when everything is fairly cheap and shiny (bit like a magpie, I am). I bought a summer striped dress for Cath (said it was made in England, so hopefully no sweatshop labor or labour) and an old Penguin edition of Gigi (when we were little, Cath and I wanted to be Leslie Caron’s Gigi. We had very little understanding of what a mistress/kept lady was, but it seemed to involve pretty dresses and walking around Paris. Done!).

I also got this sweater. It’s a brighter pink than this photo lets on.

And that was Spitalfields! Next London trip I hope to hit up another market. I don’t understand why we don’t have something similar in Atlanta. I mean, these British markets started outside and if they can have something outside in the rain and the cold, Atlanta can do it in the heat and humidity, right?

Update: Matt just pointed out this amazing blog to me called Spitalfields Life. I’m just dipping my toe in, but it looks to be amazing and is written daily by a Gentle Author. So even if you don’t have a London trip on the horizon, take a look at this blog to feel like you have your own Brick Lane tour guide.

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Dear Cath,

You would looooove Spitalfields and the whole east London vibe in general. It is pretty different from where we stayed in the past. Wouldn’t it be awesome if Decatur had something similar? I know there was that artist market, but it was missing the food and the vintage wares.

August seems much to far away.

LOVE,

Lar