Open City and Fitzcarraldo Editions to co-publish London Feeds Itself, edited by Jonathan Nunn
Fitzcarraldo Editions and Open City will co-publish a new and updated edition of London Feeds Itself, edited by the food writer and editor of Vittles, Jonathan Nunn. The book was originally published by Open City, a charity dedicated to making architecture and neighbourhoods more open, accessible and equitable, in September 2022, and sold out almost immediately.
Fitzcarraldo Editions publisher Jacques Testard and Open City chief executive Phineas Harper will co-publish the book in print and ebook in March 2024, in an updated design by Rosa Nussbaum, who designed the first edition. London Feeds Itself will be sold and distributed through the Independent Alliance, with Fitzcarraldo Editions leading on publicity, including a programme of talks and events around the launch of the book. Fitzcarraldo Editions are also representing World English and translation rights for the book.
London Feeds Itself features 26 essays about 26 different buildings, structures and public amenities in which London’s vernacular food culture can be found, seen through the eyes of writers, architects, journalists and politicians – accompanied by 125 updated guides to some of the city’s best vernacular restaurants across all 33 London boroughs by Jonathan Nunn. Contributors include Rebecca May Johnson, Aditya Chakrabortty, Yvonne Maxwell, Owen Hatherley, Claudia Roden, Jeremy Corbyn and Ciaran Thapar.
London is often called the best place in the world to eat – a city where a new landmark restaurant opens each day, where vertiginous towers, sprawling food halls and central neighbourhoods contain the cuisines of every country in the world. Yet, this London is not where Londoners usually eat. There is another version of London that exists in its marginal spaces, where food culture flourishes in parks and allotments, in warehouses and industrial estates, along rivers and A-roads, in baths and in libraries. A city where Londoners eat, sell, produce and distribute food every day without fanfare, where its food culture weaves in and out of daily urban existence.
In a city of rising rents, of gentrification, and displacement, this new and updated edition of London Feeds Itself, edited by the food writer and editor of Vittles, Jonathan Nunn, shows that the true centres of London food culture can be found in ever more creative uses of space, eked out by the people who make up the city. Its chapters explore the charged intersections between food and modern London’s varied urban conditions, from markets and railway arches to places of worship to community centres. 25 essays about 25 different buildings, structures and public amenities in which London’s vernacular food culture can be found, seen through the eyes of writers, architects, journalists and politicians – all accompanied by 125 updated guides to some of the city’s best vernacular restaurants across all 33 London boroughs.
Jonathan Nunn is a food and city writer based in London who founded and co-edits the magazine Vittles. He is the editor of London Feeds Itself.
Quotes
On the co-publishing agreement, Fitzcarraldo Editions publisher Jacques Testard said: ‘Like many Londoners, I have been following Jonathan Nunn’s work for some time. I was fortunate enough to get a copy of the first edition of London Feeds Itself before it sold out last year – it's a landmark book about how London, as seen through food culture. I am very excited to have a role in getting it into the hands of the huge readership it deserves.’
Open City chief executive Phineas Harper added: ‘We are thrilled to be collaborating with Fitzcarraldo Editions on a revised and expanded release of Jonathan Nunn’s sumptuous London Feeds Itself. They are explorative and continuously surprising publishers whose diverse tastes and striking novels resonate with our charity’s work in telling holistic stories about London in new ways.’
Jonathan Nunn said: ‘I’m delighted that London Feeds Itself will have a new lease of life with Fitzcarraldo and Open City together. I’ve been a long-distance admirer of how Jacques and the Fitzcarraldo team work with their writers, and I’m excited that the second edition of the book will be shaped by both their vision and Open City’s generosity. It’s rare to ever get to work with a dream publisher, let alone twice on one book.’
For review copies or interview requests, please write to clare@fitzcarraldoeditions.com and copy in press@open-city.org.uk.
Preorders
The second edition of London Feeds Itself and be preordered here.