As Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II celebrates her Platinum Jubilee on June 2nd , the trader at New Covent Garden Market can look back with pride on 70 years of supplying the Royal Households .
The Queen has bought fruit and vegetables from New Covent Garden Market , the lead wholesale market in the country , throughout her sovereignty , as the consumption habits of her land have evolve to mull availability of produce from around the world .
The Queen ’s fantabulous wellness has often been credit to a consistently nutritive dieting , including plenty of fresh produce . Her Majesty has her favourite , of course , but the res publica ’s intake habit have changed dramatically when it fall to yield and veg in the last seven X .
When Her Majesty became Queen Elizabeth II in 1952 , the country was still more than two years off from an end to 14 year of rationing due to the restrictions of World War II . The 1952 Office for National Statistics ( ONS ) basket of good list just murphy ( erstwhile and new ) , tomatoes , cabbages , Brassica oleracea botrytis , cultivated carrot , sprouts , pea , turnip , and onions as staple fresh veg item , while the fresh fruit range was limited to cooking apples , oranges , and bananas , with canned plum tree , pears and peaches also on the inclination .
A Cypriot pound of spuds cost 2d ( 18p in today ’s money ) , 1 lb of sugar would ready you back 4.5d ( 47p ) , and 1 lb of Orange was betray for 1s¾d ( £ 1.10 ) .
The fresh produce on the menu at The Queen ’s Coronation State Banquet on June 3de , 1953 , included English - get ware such as new potatoes , tomatoes , asparagus , and strawberries , and these four items have been on menus at Jubilee celebrations ever since .
Even by the clip the land was celebrating its sovereign ’s Silver Jubilee in 1977 , the nation ’s received shopping handbasket had not bulged too much in size , though some of the item had changed . The diversity of murphy uncommitted had widened , while mushrooms were added to the vegetable list at the expense of Brassica rapa and peas ( frozen pea having take detention ) . Dessert apple and Pyrus communis had made their path onto the new yield list .
Another fourth of a one C on , as the Queen keep 50 years on the throne in 2002 , the ONS had see set to add cucumbers , lettuce , organic vegetable , and pre - jammed salads to their list of most pop vegetables . The yield basket was far larger by this stage , though – with bananas having knocked apples off their perch as the land ’s favorite yield . The intermediate Briton now not only on a regular basis purchased the said cooking and sweet apples , Pyrus communis , banana , and oranges , but also strawberries , grape , Citrus paradisi , avocado , Prunus persica , constituent fruit , and kiwifruit .
By 2012 , nectarines and wanton peeler citrus had made their way into the fruit basket , alongside vegetable counterparts peppers , Brassica oleracea italica , and courgette . Another fruit refer in dispatches was persimmon , sales of which were increasing at a faster rate than either the now popularised kiwifruit and aguacate .
DDP Ltd , of New Covent Garden Market , which has held a Royal Warrant and supplied the Royal Household for the last two of her Jubilee milepost ( in 2002 and 2012 ) , will also render the fresh garden truck for this year ’s events . “ The British public ’s purchasing habit have changed as the humans has become small and availableness of products from every corner of the globe has extend our horizon and heighten our taste buds , ” said DDP ’s Managing Director , Paul Grimshaw . “ The master staples still mostly stay on in our basket , but we ’ve developed our culinary skills and awake up to ways to value the flavors of fruit and vegetable , as well as the incredible wellness benefit they allow for .
“ This year , statistics show that strawberry are the nation ’s favorite yield , followed by white and red seedless grapes , with banana tree now kick downstairs to fourth post . So things keep evolving , but one affair that has stayed fundamental to the carte du jour of the Royal Households , however , is British - grow green groceries , and for the Platinum Jubilee , British Heritage love apple , edible asparagus , Jersey Royals , and strawberries will trifle a big role , ” say Paul .
“ New Covent Garden Market will be putting out the bunting and celebrating the Jubilee in style in the week of the Platinum Jubilee , and everyone here extends our congratulations and sincere gratitude to The Queen for her brilliant military service to the land . ”
Here are a few more fresh produce milestones during the Queen ’s meter on the throne :
1975Iceberg gelt was introduced to the UK .
1990sExotic salad leaves such as rocket and lollo rosso become mainstream , as do sun - dried love apple .
1994Little muffin lettuce and cherry tomatoes are widely available for the first sentence .
1996Bananas become more popular than apple .
2000sCourgettes , mange tout , and corn on the cob become more popular than cabbage and carrot , use of goods and services of yield touch an all - time high , and there is a acclivity in the ingestion of “ superfoods ” such as blueberries , spinach plant , soy , cress green , and mangos .
2010Gala pass Cox as the UK ’s favorite apple , and blueberries overtake raspberry bush in the popularity stakes .
2010sMicro leaves gain popularity – especially in the restaurant trade .
Source : New Covent Garden
