Harriet Badby, 35, Whitecross Market
I meet Harriet of XX burritos, round the back of their distinctive VW foot truck adorned with millennial pink graffiti. In casual clothes and a Crete cap, espousing brand loyalty with guacamole and nachos. She’s been here since 7, cycling over from Camberwell after a 5am alarm. Unlike many stalls, the van doesn’t need assembling, so her first job of the day is simply to plug the van into a generator, and grab coffees for the three person team.
I ask her more about the business. They’ve been in operation for seventeen years, and Harriet has been working at this market for 15 of those. She has seen the market evolve over that period, in addition to their own business. Like many, COVID decimated footfall in the immediate, and business has not recovered in the four years since due to working patterns. Their once fleet of food vans has been stripped back to one, and will remain so to mitigate risk. Equally she has noted a change in the makeup of the market, with traditional stalls selling bric-a-brac giving way to the food stall centred market it is today, catering to those financial office workers who seldom turn up to the office. Today is Friday, which alongside Monday are seen as quiet days. The street has conspicuous holes in it which you imagine once filled with hustle and bustle.
“It’s the people who make you want to stay here” she says when I ask her favourite part of the job. But she is referring to the other traders and suppliers. She talks fondly of an “oldboy” vegetable supplier who recently died, and had a brief foray into coffee, but grew fatigued of offering therapy to those after their 11am caffeine fix.
She likes the simplicity of this job, and the lack of morality issues she faces simply serving people food. Yet asked about the future, she insists the stall will still be here, but cannot confirm she will be as everpresent. I sense in her a streak of independence, and a desire to free of state control, instead waxing lyrically about the community spirit of the market which keeps her coming back.