Transported to Camberwell Arts Festival

Written by sumoore | 18 Comments.

I was giving directions to my flat from Victoria this week. ‘Well, you could get the train to Denmark Hill and walk, or you could take the 36 or the 436 bus. Oh, or the 185′. And it occurred to me that we in Camberwell are very well connected. What with the arrival of the orange line having made it so much easier for the tight trousered hipsters to get from Dalston to come and visit us, we’ve chosen the theme of Transported for this year’s Camberwell Arts Festival.

That time of year again? Yes, indeed. Listen to blues at the bus stop, make your own vehicle and aim to win Wacky Races, snoop round artists’ studios, and when you’ve finished with that, follow the trail through some of our finest boozers.

It all kicks off on Saturday with the Art Picnic on the Green, featuring possibly the world’s largest picnic blanket, followed by another turn by music hall revivalists the Palace of Varieties. Also, make sure you swing by Monkeycat of this parish’s exhibition — picturetheblock.tumblr.com/

Check out the programme at www.camberwellarts.org.uk/festival, and I’ll see you for life drawing on the number 12 bus.

Camberwell Food and Drink Festival review

Written by Peter | 50 Comments.

The 20^th to 27^th of April saw another Camberwell Food & Drink Festival, and I missed almost all of it. Typical. Luckily my wife, Ana, was around, so here’s her report on the Food Fair that kicked it off:

The Festival started with a food fair on Camberwell Green where some of the best local restaurants, cafes and producers met and fed a crowd willing to spend the whole day lying in the sun — it was such a beautiful spring day. It attracted people of all ages, who happily shopped/ queued for food and sat on the green, surrounded by food stalls, just to chat, read, listen to the music and watch the colourful balloons against the clear blue sky.

Camberwell was represented by House Cafe, No 67, Falafel and Zeret. As much as I enjoy their food, I wanted to check the guys from outside our borders. I tried a delicious Orange and Ginger Marmalade from Thurstons Preserves and some really tasty cheese from Bath Soft Cheese. There was fresh meat, fish, vegetables and bread there too; if I was planning to go home after the event, I would have done my shopping for the month there.

Then I found Braziliana Cafe and I couldn’t resist having a coxinha and a Guarana — a fried chicken croquette and a soft drink that are very popular in Brazil, my country of origin. Later, the owner Mariana Camarotte prepared feijoada, a stew of black beans with beef and pork, in the demonstration kitchen. It was quite nice to see so many people taking an interest in Brazilian food and the live cooking session helped her to sell more portions of our most famous dish.

The idea of having a stall on the farmers market on Saturdays for each restaurant to showcase their dishes and engage with the community could work well.

There are lots more pictures of the Food Fair on the Flickr stream of Changify, an organisation aimed at helping to bring about social change at a local level. They ran an event, which I was able to attend, on the last day of the Festival. This event was to gather local opinion about food options and introduce people to some of the local amenities. The morning session had some talks, including one from the Glengall Wharf Garden, a community project in Burgess Park. Then we split into two groups to have a small taster lunch, one group at The Bear and the other (mine) at The Crooked Well, where they explained their origins and how they aim to source food locally.

My group then took a tour of some of the shops in the area, and The Secret Garden, run by Tom aka TomTom aka Monkeycat, of this parish. In the afternoon there was a further workshop, but at that point I had to leave.

It’s great to see people working to effect change, so I recommend you have a look at their website to see what it offers. If nothing else, they introduced me to the delicious crepes and galettes of Maloko, the new cafe opened in the former Paul’s Continental Olive Shop, run by some lovely and friendly guys who have a mission to provide healthy vegan food at low prices.

Food and drink festival, and more

Written by Peter | 36 Comments.

Stay in Camberwell tomorrow, because there are a few things happening: first, it’s Record Store Day, so Rat Records (Camberwell New Road) have DJs playing in store all day.

Second, it’s the opening day of the Camberwell Food and Drink Festival, and there’ll be a food fair with cooking demonstrations on the Green along with the regular farmer’s market. The Festival continues all week with all kinds of events and offers, so make the most of it. I, unfortunately, will miss the food fair as I’m already occupied. Gutted.

Camberwell Online in the Digital Universe

Written by Peter | 62 Comments.

This is… well, this is just astonishing.

As of April 6, a consortium of libraries — including the British, Bodleian and Trinity — will be given permission to archive the entire UK web. As promotion for this, they’ve curated a list of 100 websites that they think will be important for future generations to learn about life today. And on that list is this blog you’re reading.

And I’m amazed, and flattered, and humbled.

They say:

A community blog with lively comments section giving insight into life in South London today. In the future a blog like this could easily be lost, taking the personal insights of a community in 2013 with it.

And I think that the key words in there are “community” and “comments”. I started this blog in 2004 as a way for me to record my rediscovery of Camberwell, and never dreamed that it would be considered like this one day, and the fact that it’s happened is down to everyone who reads, comments, and otherwise gets involved in the discussions that go on here.

If you’re reading this in 2113, I just want to say that I’m sorry you never got to meet some of the great people I’ve met through writing this blog for the last nine years, and that I hope in your time Camberwell continues to be as vibrant and weird and grotty and beautiful and friendly and contrary as it is right now. Also, have you got a tube station yet? And please have a glass of future beer in the Hermits for me.