All's well on the shopping front.......mysterious strike over?

Instead of heading off to the Intermarche in Lalinde, fancied a change and went to the megastore of the same name, in Creysse and was pleased to be able to purchase a large pot of Marmite....


Haven't been able to get it since a two before xmas..so that's a relief...


Now all they need to do is copy Waitrose's canned mixed grapefruit in juice and I can stop importing it....

The Chinese seem to be involved in just about every industry....everywhere....

Haven't yet succumbed to gout....but I'll bare in mind your advice...marmite and lettuce yes, will try the apple combination.....(?)

Marmite and crunchy peanut butter .....? I like it....

Thanks Lyndsey,

...(nice to see a photo ?)...

Since I shifted my stuff over to France in 2007, I have only managed to make a couple of visits to Bordeaux and that was some time ago.

I did make it to IKEA. which was an interesting experience to contrast with the one in Purley where I was a frequent visitor and had many a fish & chip supper (actually I used to have my spuds boiled...healthier option), with my friends...

I remember that the surrounding area was a maze of construction & very new roads...quite a contrast to the historic centre and the museums and fountains etc...

Time, obviously for another visit.....

Self raising flour is readily available in supermarkets, just buy the flour for gateaux. Remember that French flour is softer than we normally use, so be careful when adding liquid. It

Try Leveure chemique.........you might just find its baming powder! Its certainly avraising agent and works well for me.

Yes we regularly stock up on curry spices etc in Eurasia in Bordeaux. You can also get a delicious meal there...just queue up and they serve you with your choices.

There's an English shop in Eymet...sells most things British...

If you suffer from gout...in big toe or thumb joints...go steady on the Marmite...as it can produce uric acid in your blood. It's uric acid crystals which cause the pain. I had to stop my daily Marmite and lettuce sandwiches because I had too much uric acid in my blood. Marmite and apple slices also makes a tasty sandwich...mmmmmmm :-)

Hi Hilary,

Eurasie in Bordeaux Nord (near IKEA & Auchan shopping centre)stocks eerything you could wish for and more...... even self-raising flour!

The Chinese have nearly finished building a new dried milk factory near us and may be about to build another

Bergerac Music, next door Biocoop on the D933 road which is Avenue Paul Doumer. You could get great spices in the covered market in the centre too at one stage but I have heard the trader closed down.

If you use dried milk you need a clean water supply to reconstitute it! So sometimes it is not possible to use it. mOving liquids is costly as they are heavy.

The bio cooperative is interesting too. If you know where the musical instrument shop is on the way in, it is next door. I can never remember road names...

Food aid is well off my map, so not a clue.

Hi Brian,

Just found their website....good range of spices (and surprisingly for a bio wholefood place), not too expensive...Will take a look, when I'm next in Bergerac...

Oh, I assumed it was a strike by distribution workers...Marmite being obviously imported...(that's what I was told at Intermarche), so perhaps there was more than one strike affecting things...

Thanks for the info..I don't do alot of baking, but I'd like to have some in......

I used to take in EFL students for the local college when I lived in South West London, one of them was a young French woman, who was a very confident cook (her mother had died when she was just a child and she had alot of experience cooking for her family), she was from Lyons and she told me it was regarded as the 'foodie' place in France....

So if it wasn't for the skiing, can you explain what attracted you to that area of France, rather than gravitating to say, the Dordogne ? I notice that quite a few SFN members have moved away from where the originally settled...be interesting why and what were the motivating factors...Yes I am thinking of moving myself...so in a way, this is research...Perhaps this should be the start of another discussion, so don't reply ..as I'll repost it as such....

Milk 'lake'...well I hope that they're doing something useful with that....(mad to be paying to stock-pile it, in warehouses somewhere in the EU....) should be dried and sent off regularly as aid( along with water, of course) to the most deprived places in the world, (Sudan, at the moment ?).....via a multinational 'International Rescue' (shades of Thunderbirds ?), type organisation.....I suppose Brian will know if things like this are being done ?

Brian, the low price of pork throughout the EU is as a result of the ban on EU imports that Putin put in place.
There is a worldwide glut of milk, UK is hit hardest bencause they have such a huge market for raw milk.

Hilary Jane, Baking Powder is called levure chimique in France, but they sell it in tiny 11g sachets instead of tubs.
No the cooking does not live up to its reputation. I have the best reputation for food amongst our friends, but I do have the advantage of having cooked professionally.
We are about two hours away from the skiing, which is a mad sport, I would almost certainly break my leg or worse.

I bought garam masala at la Vie Claire... It is a seek and ye shall find area, mind you we are still looking for some basic things. The strike was farmers whose income is effectively being reduced whereby the major supermarkets are pushing prices up without passing the benefits on.

Hi Jane,

I see you're just north of the 'gastronomic capital' of France....does it live up to it's reputaion, do you think ?

Yes, I haven't managed to track down baking powder or cream of tartar.....and I would like to find an Asian place to get the spices seperately as well as the mix, Garam Masala...maybe in Bordeaux ?...Will have to do a search..

What was it that attracted you to live in this area...skiing ?