People are only just realising why we eat strawberries and cream at Wimbledon
If you’ve ever attended Wimbledon, or watched it on TV along with most people, you’ll know that the tennis tournament is synonymous with eating strawberries and cream.
While much of the focus on the championships is tennis, but Wimbledon is also a British festival of food and drink.
Although they offer anything from Scottish smoked salmon to ales from the Wimbledon brewery, the most famous snack to have there is strawberries and cream.
According to Wimbledon’s website, an average of 190,900 portions of strawberries and cream are eaten at the Championships each year.
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Strawberries and cream have been a part of Wimbledon since the very first tournament in 1877 – but if you’re wondering why they are consumed religiously you’re not alone.
Why do they sell strawberries and cream at Wimbledon?
Strawberries and cream were served at the very first Wimbledon, where 200 people were spectators. The reason is believed to be a combination of two things.
First, strawberries were in season at the time the tournament was playing, and they had become fashionable to eat.
Johnny Perkins, the then head of PR for the All England Club, told CNN in 2015: “They were part of afternoon tea, which had become a fashionable ritual, and that took root at Wimbledon.
"Many people see Wimbledon as being like tennis in an English garden," he adds. "The tennis is the main thing, of course, but it is a big part of the English summer and is a day out for people as well.”
The second theory is that it relates back to being consumed by Royalty in the early 16th century.
It has been claimed that King Henry VIII’s Lord Chancellor, Cardinal Thomas Wolsey. served the combination at a banquet in 1509.
When the King visited Wolsey’s home at Hampton Court, which isn’t far from Wimbledon, it is said he was served wild strawberries and cream as a dessert.
At this time dairy was considered a food to be consumed by peasants. Meanwhile, seasonal strawberries were seen as a luxury in an age before refrigeration.
Eating them in public was therefore seen as a sign of prosperity.
How much do strawberries and cream cost at Wimbledon?
Strawberries and cream at Wimbledon costs £2.50 – the same price it has cost since 2010.
Despite the cost of living crisis and prices surging, the Chief Executive Office at the All England Lawl Tennis Club, confirmed the popular food would remain this price.
This is partly because the strawberries are sourced from local farms.
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