From Brick Lane to Bread Street..
Just around the corner from Brick Lane’s famous bagel shops, the oh!art centre at Oxford House(1) in Bethnal Green is opening an exhibition, on 3rd September, celebrating the diversity of breads in London. The Bread Street exhibition contains 30 photographs of London’s rich baking tradition, aiming to reflect the cultural and ethnic diversity of Londoners through the breads they make and eat.
Photographer Sara Hannant explains her inspiration: With these photos I wanted to show breads made in as many different communities as possible, from Jamaican duck bread to kosher hallah, in locations ranging from Southall to Stamford Hill. The reportage photographs celebrate everyday scenes surrounding the bakers’ craft and explore the social and cultural role bread plays in all our lives.
London Food Link project officer Ben Reynolds expands: This exhibition is an ideal way to document a rich and varied baking heritage before it is lost. The number of craft bakeries in the UK has dropped from 18,000 in 1950 to 3500 today, and now only have 2% of the UK market share. In comparison France has almost ten times as many. With just two companies providing more than half the bread we consume the effects on variety are obvious. We must support the craft bakeries now before they are lost to the spread of the standard sliced white.
The exhibition runs from the 3rd to the 26th of September, and is part of the autumn/ winter season at oh!art. The theme for this programme of work continues oh!art’s annual theme of identity. ‘This exhibition clearly identifies the city of London through its varied use of and attitudes to bread, something that is still considered a staple amongst many cultures.’ Pippa Bailey, Artistic Director.
The exhibition, commissioned by London Food Link(2), is accompanied by the report Bread Street: the British baking bloomer(3) and a set of 12 postcards taken from Sara Hannant’s work(4).
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For more information contact: Ben Reynolds, London Food Link, 0203 5596 777. www.londonfoodlink.org
EDITOR'S NOTES:
1. The oh!art centre opened in July 2003, an extension to Oxford House Community Centre. oh!art’s core aims are to produce professional artwork in a community context, concentrating on all forms of collaboration and working with an annual theme. In 2004 the theme is Identity, and in 2005 the theme is Environments. www.oxfordhouse.org.uk
3. London Food Link is a project by Sustain, the alliance for better food and farming. London Food Link aims to help producers, consumers and retailers make a positive choice for sustainable local food. This means better access to affordable, high quality and seasonal food, shorter supply chains and campaigning for policies that promote a thriving food economy and culture. London Food Link members include councils, health authorities, businesses, environment and community groups.
3. Bread Street is funded by grants from the Arts Council England (London), the Association for London Government and the Bridge House Estates Trust Fund. Bread Street: the British baking bloomer report is available from Sustain for £15 (half price for London Food Link members) + £1p&p.
4. Postcards taken from this exhibition are available from Sustain at www.sustainweb.org or from Oxford House for 30p per card or £3 for a pack of 12.
Please click here to download the document
Published Sunday 25 January 2004
London Food Link: London Food Link brings together community food enterprises and projects that are working to make good food accessible to everyone in London to help create a healthy, sustainable and ethical food system for all.
