Today we have something a little out of the ordinary: The Bespokist Society Guide to London. If you are looking for a serious guide to the sights and culture of 2018 London, you might consider looking elsewhere because as you will soon see, the authors tongues are very much in their cheeks. Here we have a pocket-sized, spoof travel guide to London, featuring parody 'go-to' destinations in London, and interviews with fictional
London characters - all the while, gently poking fun at current urban trends
and the 'luxe' side of marketing.
Here's how the publishers describe it:
As the first travel book produced by the hugely influential
Bespokist Society, this handy guide takes you to a London you’ve never seen: a
London of challenging Etruscan restaurants, edgy branding parlours, emoji
hotels and hidden Icelandic communities; a London where 8-ply toilet paper is a
thing.
On the way, meet an eclectic band of inspiring Londoners -
from scriveners to socialites via urban wordsmiths and coffee preachers - and
see why London is now the global epicentre of Bespokist consciousness,
community and culture.
I am lucky to be able to bring you an interview with one of its characters, Flora Tilson of Her Margesty’s Pleasure,
sponsored by The Bespokist Society Guide to…London
Q : Flora, five years ago there was a feeling that margarine
was going out of fashion. What changed?
F : I think what happened was something of a grass roots
movement. There was a group of millennials like me who’d grown up on margarine
and loved the taste. But we also knew that in giving us margarine our parents
had exposed us to incredibly damaging chemicals that were now causing huge
health issues - from Type 2 Arthritis all the way through to dry skin. If we
were going to bring back margarine as a serious spread we needed to roll our
sleeves up and do it for ourselves.
Q: How did you carry it off?
F : Back in 2015 a lot of us were playing around with different
flavours and combinations. It was a mad, crazy time and we had a lot of fun! I
remember staying up til 1am one night with mates mixing some almond and cashew
oils someone had blagged from a local farmer! But at the back of my mind I knew
that one day I had to get serious - so I invested in an industrial churning
machine and at the same time started to work really hard at putting my own
personality into my spreads.
Q: What made you decide to open an actual margarinerie?
F: The truth is I was getting so many mums on the school run
badgering me for my latest creations that I was absolutely exhausted! My house
had inadvertently become an artisanal workshop and I was even getting people
turning up on my doorstep at 5am demanding some marge for their breakfast
crumpet! Enough was enough. I heard on the school grapevine about a garage
owner under the arches in Catford who was struggling to pay the rent and I
managed to persuade the landlord to turf him out. The rest is history!
Q : Where do you see artisanal margarine in the next 5
years?
F: Everyone is jumping on the bandwagon so there will
obviously be a lot more of it. But I really fear for the quality if that starts
happening and ultimately it will be our kids that suffer – like our generation
did back in the 90s ☹. I will just keep focusing on
creating delicious, ethical and biospheric spreads and hope that people like
what they taste.
Thank you so much, Flora, for sharing your thoughts on artisan margarine. Any plans on diversifying into artisan lard or dripping?
About the Authors
Who are we?
A social collective with a passion for the curated and the
bespoke. Current chairman is Tommy Sponge.
Where did it begin?
Like the impressionists who forged an artistic movement in
the fin de siecle coffee shops of Paris, The Bespokist Society began in a
biospheric winery in Norbiton in 2013.
Jez Tapano
Born : Easter Island
Lives : Plaistow
Favourite drink : Messy Monk IPA
Favourite food : Heritage carrots
Favourite hangout : Vine n Vinyl of course!
Nastya Petrov
Born : Vladivostock
Lives : Harrow on the Hill
Favourite drink : Dagenham Gin on the rocks
Favourite food : Rare breed walrus
Favourite hangout : Nina Saviceu gallery
You can follow the authors here:
ISBN-10: 1912615142
ISBN-13: 978-1912615148
Thanks to Acorn Independent Press and Anne Cater of Randon Things Tours for a copy of the book and a place on the tour.
Do catch up with the rest of the tour!
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