Five great London-set works of fiction with delicious foodie themes…
10. The Ipcress File
“I am going to cook you the best meal you have ever tasted in your life.” This is the boast of Harry Palmer near the start of the thriller The Ipcress File. Harry Palmer – as well as being the Kitchen Sink antidote to James Bond – was something of a dab hand in the culinary stakes. No surprise given that his creator, Len Deighton, had been a food writer for The Observer.
11. Bridget Jones’s Diary
By January 1st, the famous London singleton’s calorie count has reached 5424. Thanks to the following “menu”: 2 pkts Emmenthal cheese slices, 14 cold new potatoes, 2 Bloody Marys (count as food as contain Worcester sauce and tomatoes), 1/3 Ciabatta loaf with Brie, coriander leaves -1/2 packet, 12 Milk Tray (best to get rid of all Christmas confectionery in one go and make fresh start tomorrow), 13 cocktail sticks securing cheese and pineapple, Portion Una Alconbury's turkey curry, peas and bananas, Portion Una Alconbury's Raspberry Surprise made with Bourbon biscuits, tinned raspberries, eight gallons of whipped cream, decorated with glacé cherries and angelica.
12. The Blue Carbuncle
We’ve all heard of the sixpence in the dumpling: but the priceless treat inside this Christmas bird would surely stick in the craw. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s seasonal classic, Sherlock Holmes’s equivalent of a Christmas Special, was published in The Strand in 1892 and can be found in the collection The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
13. A Christmas Carol
The best London Christmas story? Check. The best London ghost story? Check. The best Dickens of ‘em all? Well, so say the readers of the LW Blog who voted it thus back in 2009. The best turkey in Camden Town? Most certainly. “The one as big as me?” asks the boy of Scrooge on Christmas morning before racing off to buy said bird for the Cratchett’s table. God bless us, everyone.
14. Moonraker
In the only James Bond novel set entirely in London, Bond dines at M’s club (the fictional) Blades. “How were the cutlets?” asks M. “Superb,” Bond replies, “I could cut them with a fork. The best English cooking is the best in the world.”
The next Foodies’ London Walk is 17th September at 10.00a.m. meeting at Monument Tube
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