Talk:London bun
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I'm very sceptical that this has any connection to London
editI find the claim that this was invented at the Bun House in Chelsea highly dubious. Chelsea in this period was a rural village nowhere near London (it only became urbanised much later on when the Tube built an extension to the area to allow them to dump rubble from their excavations in an unpopulated area, and people began to build houses around the tracks and use the trains to commute), and it's very well documented that the buns served at the Bun House were Chelsea buns. I have never heard of anything called a "London bun", and it seems doubtful; Greater London is a very recent (1965) invention, and I'm not aware of any traditional food with "London" in its name. (The traditional sweet dishes of South East England are virtually all variations on suet pudding and jam tarts; London has no tradition of specialist breads.)
I'm also sceptical that these ever existed in Britain under this name. "Bun" in British English refers exclusively to circular breads and has done so since at least the 17th century, and something "finger shaped" would always have been described as either a roll or a cake, not a bun. Additionally, I can find no mention of these things in any reference work on 19th-century London (there was a brief fad in the Victorian age for ginger-free gingerbread men called "Mr Londonbun" but that's unconnected), and a skim of Google Books appears to show no mention of "London buns" in any context other than Australia. – iridescent 19:15, 10 August 2013 (UTC)
Hello, I agree that ‘London bun’ is an imprecise term. However I have seen them sold in London some years ago. They were square - ish and covered in crystallised sugar. Generally the descriptions on the internet suggests an iced bun. My grandmother (born 1894) made batches of similar yeast buns she called Geneva buns. This appears to be the name used by Eliza Acton, the early cookery writer. Dorkinglad (talk) 21:37, 22 August 2022 (UTC)