There is such a large selection of dishwasher tabs that we end up forgetting which ones are best and getting the worst, I make my own sweet pickle, much nicer than Branston's who have reduced (?) the chilli over the years making it sweeter rather than tangy, my sister in London says the same when eating mine here. I can get a fine selection of cheese at LeClerc, especially excellent Stilton (no other cheese in the world counts, sorry folk). Intermarché is a franchise store, we know the local Inter/Netto/Brico owner very well and he has reliable but useless buyers in his store, but he makes the ackers... So avoid it unless you know a good one. LeClerc are better, when you find a good Carrefour then you know why it is the world's second biggest chain after Wallmart. I think it is wrong to judge on what you can and cannot get too quickly, especially with imported goods. Further down in Spain the diversity diminishes as one gets further from large concentrations of foreigners. Then you can get lots of excellent Spanish stuff. It is not that things are not available in France, more a case of distribution, marketing and the usual things that are about earning filthy lucre. Neither my friend, nor I, were discussing distribution of goods, in that I think the entire world has changed and have seen it changing around me. That is not as much the point as a people are the nation, not the soil they stand on and it is how they use their lives, eat, dress, manners and other things I started with. If it all comes down to where chutney is available then I am lost.
Jolly good John - I do so admire committed people. Anyway.....here's a little ditty to help you through those darker days - not that I imagine you have any of course.....:-)
And massive bottles!
John, constructive criticism and relating your bad experiences is not despising. At least it wasn’t the last time I looked in the OED.
I have just been making the raspberry shortbread pudding in Elizabeth David’s Summer Cookery. Yummy.
Maybe the French idea of beef with jam was in some way related to ham with Cumberland sauce, curry with sweet chutney or roast lamb with mint sauce all of which if done correctly are wonderful!!!! I am a member of a group that does a Christmas event to which participants are requested to do a dish and I always (and am now requested to repeat) curried chicken or beef. I have had a house in France 45 years and have never ever been offered anything spicier than a tagine or some quite bland some cous cous dish. In Bretagne especially they seem to freak out at spice but are quite happy to consume it if offered it! On the other hand pizza (orthe French version of it which is often not real pizza at all) seems to have taken over. Elizabeth David David must be rolling in her grave let alone the much missed Kieth Floyd!
The Intermarche in Cluny has been taken over by Carrefour, but they have opened a brand new one in Macon, which is none of the above.
We usually use ATAC in Cluny whicj is very friendly and is not bad, good butchery and fish counter.
I have chosen to live in France for better or worse and luckily better wins hands down. What I can’t understand is why so many people live in a country that they despise.
Hmmm….an ugly situation…. maybe local farms and AMAPs could help?
Marie, I just ask one of our neighbours for some of their Charolais beef, which is always hung for longer than in the shops.
Yes Véronique - but for double the price of Spanish supermarkets....
No Jane - lack of choice is my bugbear.
Isn't Sanex shower stuff? You can get it in Inter in Bergerac. Also dishwasher tablets (many varieties) & far too many different sorts of washing & washing-up liquid.
& there's no point missing Hellman's when mayonnaise is so easy to make that it has been my youngest child's job since she was 4 and a bit ;-)
Monoprix ? Nearest one 75km away.
Little shops which sell fresh local products? Expensive and not always fresh due to low turnover - mostly tourists.
Jane, I suppose you have never had an Intermarché experience?! It's a grotty, dirty, dingy one most of the time, plus they have the strangest items in stock (most of them really yucky…)
I have just had the French friend of a friend asking if they could rent our gite.
They have rented one not far from us through Gites de France and it was filthy!
We could not help as we are full.
I think it is very difficult to compare like with like, for example, when I was little I lived in Knightsbridge, St Tropez and rural (ie no neighbours) Scotland and alternated between the three - La France Profonde I live in now isn't at all like any of those. The France I remember as a French person probably isn't typical at all. I flew back and forth about 12 times a year from a couple of months old (in a basket with a label on the handle, to start with - wouldn't be allowed nowadays) and I have 18 year-olds in class now, 50 years later, who have never taken a 'plane...
London isn't at all the way it was when I was a small child and nor is St Tropez (alas), even in the getting on for 40 years I have been in Germany for part of the year it has changed hugely. So I just think things have altered an awful lot since les trente glorieuses, everywhere, but that a Fr person living in GB is likely to notice change for the worse in France a lot more because change is incremental and when you are on the spot you digest it without noticing much.
That said I remember being in a nightclub with my mother & friends of hers & mine & we (my friends & I) were having a lovely time & they (my mother & her friends) all said the music etc was frightful/too loud/nightclubs were no fun any more, hideously dressed people etc etc & blamed the nightclub rather than anno domini...
But it is the stock, or lack of it, you are complaining about and that is surely the same whether you or someone else picks it up.
Maybe Monoprix would be better? It's the only supermarket I actually tolerate. One of the reasons I enjoy living in France is because there are so many little shops which sell fresh local products.
Thanks for reminding me Catharine! - and....toilet rolls that last more than half a day, Hellmans, Branston, other pickles and dressings from around the world, New World wines, washing liquids, Sanex, dishwasher tabs, beers, world cheeses and desserts - I could go on but I'm salivating...and I never do that in Intermarché! :-)
And I almost forgot - much cheaper Bacardi - you know, the top selling rum in the World that is in short supply in France. Now why would that be? I know....it's because the sickly sweet Havana Club is the rum of choice in France because the brand is owned by ....Pernod Ricard...quelle surprise!