England: Luke Williams (Food in London)

November 20, 2025

A large bowl with white rice on the far side and a spoon. In the middle is fried chicken sliced up, and on the close side of the bowl is brown curry — Big katsu curry

I’ve always been a big eater, but if you’d told my 12-year-old chicken-tender-devouring self the variety of things I’ve had during my first couple weeks in London, I’m not sure I would have believed you. No disrespect to Madison, of course, but the sheer number of cuisines that I’ve seen and smelled while walking down the street has been nothing short of a new experience for me. (How expensive things are has also been a little bit of a shock to the system, too, but I’d rather not talk about that right now.)

A plate piled high with potatoes, vegetables, and red meat that is cooked medium rare. — A cheeky Sunday Roast

The biggest revelation for me has definitely been the late night shawarma wrap. It feels like everywhere I’ve been, there’s a place selling kebab or shawarma or falafel until some outrageous hour in the morning, and usually for reasonable prices too. The availability of all different kinds of middle eastern and mediterranean cuisines is definitely new–growing up in the Minneapolis suburbs and going to school in Madison certainly hasn’t exposed me to that much, and I certainly didn’t realize what I was missing out on until now. Paul’s and Cane’s are good, but I’m not quite sure if they’ll be able to fill the big shoes my new love will leave behind. The one thing that Madison does have on London is Chipotle, though. Based on my large sample size of 2 the servings are decidedly less big and American than they are on State Street.

A hand is holding a large wrap with brown meat inside and lettuce. In the background is a somewhat blurry to-go container with French fries in it. — A not-so-late night schwarma wrap

Of course, I’m here for the whole year, so my journey has just begun–I’ve been lucky enough to try a little bit of Indian, Japanese, and traditional English food, among many other things, and I’m super excited to try more dishes from around the world, even if my wallet isn’t.

A photo of Luke, a male student, smiling at the camera. He has short, brown, curly hair and is wearing a dark blue windbreaker jacket. He stands inside a busy room with many people behind him out of focus.

Luke Williams

Hometown: Minnetonka, Minnesota

Major: Economics; Mathematics; History

Program: London School of Economics

LSE has a fantastic social science curriculum (especially for economics), so I’m confident that my classes will be super engaging, even if they’re challenging. I’m also hoping to get some hands-on experience through an internship.