Week-long celebration of food at Spitalfields Market

SPITALFIELDS Market is hosting a week-long celebration of all things culinary next week.

The market is marking the occasion with the launch of its new Flavours food court which will be dedicated to showcasing the best in local, regional and international food and drink.

The food court will also include a demonstration kitchen in which chefs from the market's restaurants, including Le Bouchon Breton, Wagamama, The Gourmet Burger Kitchen, Cafe Caribbean and Androuet, will be put through their paces.

Market boss Malcolm Ball said: "Old Spitalfields Market is well known for its fashion, antiques and crafts, but there is shortage of market stalls that sell good food and drink produce, particularly during the working week.

"We have some of central London's best restaurants here and I believe it's only fitting that our customers can gain access to good quality ingredients for home cooking. After all, it's what made Spitalfields Market famous."

Food and drink producers in the Flavours food court will range from small artisans to international companies.

Mr Ball added: "Provenance plays a big part in how people shop for their ingredients. It's no longer enough to tell a customer that a cheese is a particular type, or which country a dry-cured ham is from.

"They want to know the region, the producer, what farm, which chicken, what day of the week and this is something our producers excel in.

"Flavours will be concentrating on promoting affordable, best-in-class produce for everyone. Not just a select few."

Flavours Food Week is on at Spitalfields Market in Commercial Street from Monday, July 19. Cookery demonstrations are on at 12.30pm, 1.30pm and 2.30pm on Wednesday and Friday.