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In 1959 when F. A. Nelson senior
came to England from the much warmer climes of
his Jamaican homeland, he sat in one of the dingy
Café's on the Commercial Road in London's East
End, and had an idea. He promptly ran back to
his digs, one of the only places around which
did not have a sign in the window proclaiming
"No Blacks, No Irish", and formulated
his plan.
What
F.A, had seen on his plate when he had ordered
his evening meal, had startled him: along side
the pie and chips that he had ordered, was a piece
of very dead lettuce and a slice of orangey green
tomato. After enquiring as to the nature and function
of this odd concoction, clearly: "too meagre
to be food and too ugly to be garnish", F.A
was told that this was a salad. Or rather, as
the friendly Pole opposite put it a "token
salad".
In
that moment a business was born. Finding his way
to Covent Garden, F.A was quickly able to source
various salad produce about to be discarded by
the market traders. He collected and repackaged
them: distributing to a network of "greasy
spoons", throughout East London. Over
the years, Tokensalad, has flourished becoming
the world's premier distributor of packaged "still-fit
for human consumption" products to the restaurant
and catering business.
Now,
in its 45th year, Tokensalad is online: "Despatched
Fresh, Delivered Eventually".
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