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TRAVELLER
S
is for Sister Gee
Marti Burgess, aka Sister Gee, is a
Bristol institution. A trained lawyer,
she owns the city’s seminal nightclub,
Lakota. But it’s on weekend evenings
that she causes a real stir: she runs
a jerk shack in her club’s car park
(
6 Upper York Street
), serving spicy
chicken that has food purists trekking
frommiles around. The recipe comes
from her grandmother, a descendant
of Jamaica’s runaway slave families,
but that’s not the only reason her
offering is more authentic – and
delicious – than most. “Serving
rice, peas and jerk together is a
travesty,” opines Burgess. “Jerk is a
method – they would use wood, not
coal – and it’s served with cocoa bread
and plantain salad.”
R
is for rösti
Consisting of just two ingredients
(grated potato and goose fat or
butter), rösti, the Swiss national dish
has to be one of the most simple
street foods there is. Add a fried egg,
sausage or cheese and it becomes a
meal. Hasenburg (
20 Schneidergasse
)
in Basel is known as rösti heaven,
serving a dozen different varieties.
Also try Czech
bramborack
, cooked
in lard, and Bavarian
kartoffelpuffer
,
made with sour cream and eggs.
T
is for Tubby Isaacs
Paul Simpson’s family has run east
London seafood stall, Tubby Isaacs
(
tubbyisaacs.co.uk
), for 93 years.
Alongside whelks, cockles and mussels,
the jellied eels – a dish enjoyed in this
part of town since the 18th century –
are rightly the star attraction. They’re
chopped, boiled in water and vinegar,
and left to cool, a process during
which they form their own jelly. You’ll
find the stalls at Petticoat Lane and
Walthamstowmarkets.
U
is for USA
Europeans and Asians had street food
long before the USA, but credit where
it’s due – Americans made it cool.
Pioneers like Big Gay Ice Cream in
New York and Kogi BBQ (
right
) in LA
used trucks to showcase their talents,
and Facebook and Twitter to spread
the word. It’s a winning formula that
has already spread to London, and
other European cities are catching
on – the Vatos Taco (
vatos-tacos.com
)
truck in Berlin is a great example.
The French have
been peddling
vegetarian street
food in the form
of crêpes forever
Sister Gee’s jerk
chicken is as
authentic – and
delicious – as you’re
likely to find this
side of Kingston
WORDS TREVOR BAKER, CAROLYN BANFALVI, ROSIE BIRKETT, JO CARUANA, STUART FORSTER, NICK HODGE, SARAH LANE, CORINNE LABALME, MATTHEWLEE, KIMBERLEY LOVATO, CHLOE SCOTT, MARK SMITH, DEREKWORKMAN