Monday, August 20, 2007

Another View of Local Food

It's always instructive to see what's going on in other countries. We (Americans, humans?) so often think that we are the embodiment of wisdom. Anyhow, I question Bill McKibben and his dedication to local food (thought I did--it may be one of my unfinished draft posts). But here's how some Frenchmen do it (along with some nice pictures, once you get past the introductory logo).

As long as I'm on the French, my impression is that in both Britain and France people tend to go to the store very often, even daily. It's the epitome of local food--the bread is baked, the meat is butchered daily, the refrigerators are small, so you practice "just-in-time cookery". Very different from suburban and country patterns here, where you make one big shopping trip a week to stock up, have big refrigerators, etc.

1 comment:

F.B. said...

Having lived overseas, very true about the daily shopping trips. I think it's partially a life style. People are more relaxed, And take the time to decide at the time "What are we going to have for dinner today?"

There's also many more local small businesses. I don't know when the last time I saw an honest-to-god butcher here in the US. The small town I lived in overseas had a butcher, 3 bakers, a cobbler, and many other small "Specialty" stores.

~Think About It