It’s that mulled wine ……. caciocavallo and blue glass time all over again

Now in our family Caciocavallo is a favourite cheese.

Caciocavallo and lots more on King Street, 2022

It comes from the south of Italy is shaped like a teardrop and is quickly consumed.

My mother-in-law is from Naples, and she will buy it when she knows we are in Varese.

All of which is a roundabout way of an introduction to the Christmas Markets which are an essential part of the run up to the festival. *

That said we choose our visit with great care, having long ago decided that at its’s busiest the markets can be a tad oppressive with too many people often trying to go in different directions making it an uncomfortable experience.  

But then at 73 I don’t like crowds.

Food and stuff, Exchange Square, 2022

For those that do wander down King Street, across St Ann’s Square, and Exchange Square the stalls can be fun, with their mix of different foods, odd gifts, and the seasonal drinks.

Baked Potato Man, London 1851

I fell across them on King Street and immediately encountered the Italian cheese stall, briefly swapping stories with the three running the place, one of whom was from Sicily, another from Milan and the boss from Naples.

The markets have been a regular feature of the city since 1998 and look back to an earlier time when markets were an essential part of our towns and cities, with many staying open late to catch those who also worked late and were looking for bargains.

And with the stalls came the food traders reminding us that there was a time when many people didn’t have access to a kitchen and street food was the primary source for breakfast lunch and tea.

Much of what was sold I suspect had been adulterated and its quality lacked freshness but as Mayhew’s accounts of mid-19th century London show the food was varied, cheap and popular.**

Here could be found the Baked Potato Man, and the London Coffee Stall and heap of stories of how the labouring and poor of London lived.***

Street Food, Manchester, 1894

And their counterparts could be found on street corners across our city.

So, if I do make it back to the markets before Christmas, I might go looking for a Tunisian baked potato, and interesting plate of German garlic mushrooms or a plate of assorted cheeses from southern Italy.

Pictures; the Manchester Christmas Markets, 2022, from the collection of Andrew Simpson and The Baked Potato Man, and the London Coffee Stall, 1851 from London Labour & the London Poor and Manchester street sellers by H.E. Tidmarsh from Manchester Old and New, William Arthur Shaw, 1894

The London Coffee Stall, London, 1851

*Manchester’s Christmas Markets, https://www.manchester.gov.uk/info/500357/christmas/7845/manchesters_christmas_markets

**Henry Mayhew, Introduction, London Labour & the London Poor 1851

***London Labour and the London Poor, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/London%20Labour%20and%20the%20the%20London%20Poor