Cockney Cuisine Campaign For Olympics

Newham Council is pressing for local produce to be sold at the Olympic Park when the games come to town in 2012. Newham Mayor Sir Robin Wales wants to see local, independent vendors getting some action when East London gets overrun with Olympics fever. That would be fair and sensible as the number of air miles clocked by competitors, delegates, fans and press amassed for the games will be insane and flying in the food to feed them all would be heaping injury on insanity.

However, we may not see that many soups and salads from local allotments or biriyanis and jerk chicken from local restaurants as the International Olympics Committee has organised deals with global brands, which is a shame because we're quite sure all the visitors to London will want something "traditional" at some point. Imagine the stacks of polystryrene cups overflowing with delicious fishy jelly thronged with tiny, sharp bones. They would be served cold by red-faced ladies in striped aprons as an alternative or indeed, an accompaniment to dense meat pies and huge servings of mash, smothered in watery, pale green liquor. Mmmm.

Marathon runners, swimmers and competitors in endurance sports could do well with that sort of straightforward carb-loading but for the events that require speed and lightness, it would be tough to get on the track or field with that kind of lunch. For spectators too, the traditional honest, hearty and heavy East End cuisine could well mean lots of afternoon snoozing in the stands as ticket holders quietly sleep off their fish and chips. Bring it on anyway: during the worldwide focus on us during the games, we need to keep it real, Cockney style.