A mysterious online foodie has used her presence to establish an ‘underground’ farmers’ market. Julia Glotz visits Ms Marmitelover’s London flat to find out more
Ms Marmitelover is a woman on a mission.
The former punk turned anarcho-restaurateur (whose real name never appears in print) wants to liberate Britain from its "health and safety paranoia" and make people confident about discovering food, and cooking and eating it in their own homes again.
A pioneer of the underground supper club movement which has seen people all over the world set up pop-up restaurants in their homes she has created the UK's first underground farmers' market: 32 food and craft stalls, 250 visitors and a band squeezed into a tiny north London flat on a sunny Sunday afternoon.
Holding a market in her flat feels like a logical extension to the supper clubs, which are all about "cutting out the middleman", she says. Plus, it's a way for her to use her growing public profile to support fellow food enthusiasts. Few can tap into an audience of foodies like Ms Marmitelover, whose blog The English Can Cook has become a must-read for those awaiting details of the next supper club.
To reduce the financial burden on exhibitors and attract even the smallest producers, Ms Marmitelover doesn't charge stallholders and instead makes her money back through the £5-a-head entrance fee. That means her market is accessible to niche producers such as Handyface, a DIY cheesemaker from south London who is selling homemade halloumi in Ms Marmitelover's garden, and John the Poacher, an 'urban forager' who has come with a box of live crayfish he fished out of the river Lee the night before.
But the market isn't just the preserve of those from the ultra left-field. Among the raw food enthusiasts on the balcony, and the purveyors of homemade cupcakes in the bedroom, are established suppliers to some of the country's leading fine-food establishments, and start-ups with real commercial potential.
One such company is Made with Joy, a two-man start-up from London that's come to the market to raise awareness of its new range of lassi yoghurt drinks. Company directors Sid Singh and Furquan Ismail are new to the food industry and feel they need to "do things differently" to make themselves heard in a competitive market. "We're always asking ourselves what Apple would do if it did food," says Singh.
Because the pair make 'traditionally flavoured' lassis (in cardamom and rose water, strawberry and holy basil, and alphonso mango flavours) they are keen to test products on people who are not afraid of trying unusual flavours and, needless to say, at the underground farmers' market there are plenty of willing volunteers.
Raising awareness is also important for Paul Jardine, a distributor for veg box scheme Riverford Organic. Like Made with Joy, he discovered Ms Marmitelover's market through word of mouth (he supplies veg boxes to the locale) and believes they share a similar target audience and goals. "She is progressing how people eat food and that's exactly what we do as well."
Simon Broad of specialist wine company Ten Green Bottles, which supplies unusual wines to Heston Blumenthal's Fat Duck and other restaurants, is another advocate. He is offering free tastings of a selection of wines in Ms Marmitelover's garden and says the attraction lies as much in talking 'terroir' as it does in shifting bottles.
Many of the market's attendees are keen bloggers and tweeters with wide audiences of their own, which means producers who capture visitors' imaginations stand a good chance of reaching new potential buyers long after the market has finished.
Made with Joy's visit to the underground farmers' market is already paying off. One of its fellow exhibitors slow-food specialist The Deli Station was so impressed with the lassis that it's decided to introduce the two entrepreneurs to one of its clients, foodservice giant Aramark.
As for Ms Marmitelover, she's already thinking about her next market. Maybe one with a Christmas theme, or one held at night. Whatever she settles for, she is bound to leave taste buds tingling again and perhaps even unearth the next big product to hit stores.
Ms Marmitelover is a woman on a mission.
The former punk turned anarcho-restaurateur (whose real name never appears in print) wants to liberate Britain from its "health and safety paranoia" and make people confident about discovering food, and cooking and eating it in their own homes again.
A pioneer of the underground supper club movement which has seen people all over the world set up pop-up restaurants in their homes she has created the UK's first underground farmers' market: 32 food and craft stalls, 250 visitors and a band squeezed into a tiny north London flat on a sunny Sunday afternoon.
Holding a market in her flat feels like a logical extension to the supper clubs, which are all about "cutting out the middleman", she says. Plus, it's a way for her to use her growing public profile to support fellow food enthusiasts. Few can tap into an audience of foodies like Ms Marmitelover, whose blog The English Can Cook has become a must-read for those awaiting details of the next supper club.
To reduce the financial burden on exhibitors and attract even the smallest producers, Ms Marmitelover doesn't charge stallholders and instead makes her money back through the £5-a-head entrance fee. That means her market is accessible to niche producers such as Handyface, a DIY cheesemaker from south London who is selling homemade halloumi in Ms Marmitelover's garden, and John the Poacher, an 'urban forager' who has come with a box of live crayfish he fished out of the river Lee the night before.
But the market isn't just the preserve of those from the ultra left-field. Among the raw food enthusiasts on the balcony, and the purveyors of homemade cupcakes in the bedroom, are established suppliers to some of the country's leading fine-food establishments, and start-ups with real commercial potential.
One such company is Made with Joy, a two-man start-up from London that's come to the market to raise awareness of its new range of lassi yoghurt drinks. Company directors Sid Singh and Furquan Ismail are new to the food industry and feel they need to "do things differently" to make themselves heard in a competitive market. "We're always asking ourselves what Apple would do if it did food," says Singh.
Because the pair make 'traditionally flavoured' lassis (in cardamom and rose water, strawberry and holy basil, and alphonso mango flavours) they are keen to test products on people who are not afraid of trying unusual flavours and, needless to say, at the underground farmers' market there are plenty of willing volunteers.
Raising awareness is also important for Paul Jardine, a distributor for veg box scheme Riverford Organic. Like Made with Joy, he discovered Ms Marmitelover's market through word of mouth (he supplies veg boxes to the locale) and believes they share a similar target audience and goals. "She is progressing how people eat food and that's exactly what we do as well."
Simon Broad of specialist wine company Ten Green Bottles, which supplies unusual wines to Heston Blumenthal's Fat Duck and other restaurants, is another advocate. He is offering free tastings of a selection of wines in Ms Marmitelover's garden and says the attraction lies as much in talking 'terroir' as it does in shifting bottles.
Many of the market's attendees are keen bloggers and tweeters with wide audiences of their own, which means producers who capture visitors' imaginations stand a good chance of reaching new potential buyers long after the market has finished.
Made with Joy's visit to the underground farmers' market is already paying off. One of its fellow exhibitors slow-food specialist The Deli Station was so impressed with the lassis that it's decided to introduce the two entrepreneurs to one of its clients, foodservice giant Aramark.
As for Ms Marmitelover, she's already thinking about her next market. Maybe one with a Christmas theme, or one held at night. Whatever she settles for, she is bound to leave taste buds tingling again and perhaps even unearth the next big product to hit stores.
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