I am always amazed at the diversity of food options available in our city. Khazakstani sandwich bars, Russian takeaways, Lebanese delis, burgers houses dedicated to American cartoon nostalgia – Oxford is a wonderful example of a city where elements of global culture are offered by small business people ‘thinking locally’.
Lowering food miles and looking for closely produced foods are worthwhile and recommendable pursuits, but this should not mean we cannot be grateful for the abundance of international products now locally available. In effect, the availability of so many cultural foods in traditional outlets, run by intelligent business people keen to offer to best of their culture, creates intermingling networks of operators and consumers in the city, where the traditions of the world food market can be available to everybody.
The people of Oxford clearly care about their food businesses. Whether that a new employer would be Jamie Oliver or a charity business such as Replenish Oxford Food Bank, a food redistribution operation launched by ex-BBC journalist Robin Aitken earlier this year. The integration of local food businesses into the community is invariably of great interest to the people of the city, both tradesmen and consumers.
A review or a recommendation of a local food business to thebestof Oxford is your opportunity to really have a voice in this exciting cultural network. The famed American psychiatrist Dr M. Scott Peck once suggested that ‘in community lies the salvation of the world’. So why not become a local food hero today and help put the best of food in Oxford on the map.
