We’ve come a long way since the BSE scandal of the 1990s and the ban on British beef. In fact, the British culinary landscape has changed beyond recognition since the foot and mouth outbreak of 2001, with its spectral images of millions of slaughtered livestock. These, along with other more minor contaminations of the food supply, such as the recent horse meat debacle, have raised permanent questions in consumers’ minds about provenance and health, and the agriculture behind what lands on our plates. As for London, in 2005 it may have been a bustling metropolis with great ethnic cuisine, but it was far from being recognised as a major player on the international restaurant scene. Now even American chefs admit it rivals and perhaps outpaces New York.
