Posted on 09/15/2014 11:03:32 AM PDT by not2be4gotten.com
One thing that is really cool about Europe and has been ruined in the US, is the ability to buy food from the common people on the street. Many are the actual farmers them selves. And we have many wonderful conversations with these remarkable people. I remember going out to Southern California as a pre-teen and experiencing all the different little grocery stands that were there in the late 60's. When I returned there in 2010, there where NO independent produce/fruit stands. It took me a while to figure out why this happened, I was stumped for a long time. What happened is that over the years, the big grocery chains figured out how to get rid of their competition through politics. Under the guise of "public safety" and "public health" they set up lobby groups to require food retailers to have running water, sewage connections, refrigeration requirements, weighing device standards and so on and so forth. They made it impossible to set up a fruit stand under the threat of fines and even jail time. In other words, the big grocery stores got the government to hire all of these bureaucrats, to eliminate their competition with YOUR MONEY! And it is just sickening. It is called "crony capitalism". The common folk in America have no clue this has happened to them. Those who require safety/security over freedom deserve neither.
[ The FDA is a typical, DC-centric overkill agency. Give them a hammer, and everything becomes a nail in their eyes. ]
ALL federa,l agencies seem to think this way because they have devolved to the point where their main purpose is to sustain themselves...
They have farmer’s type markets around just like the USA, though some are real charming like the ones on Ramblas street in Barcelona.
They have farmer’s type markets around just like the USA, though some are real charming like the ones on Ramblas street in Barcelona.
I live in Ohio... and it’s the same kind’a nastiness. I wouldn’t buy street food from anyone in the US let alone abroad.
It ain’t worth it to get super sick.
As opposed to the people at the grocery store who do not wash their hands? Seems to me that the solution would be to wash your veggies before preparation.
The entire village was like that. One guy I knew lived not far away, was a Polizei and he bred his own rabbits. He raised them through generations, kept some notes almost as Mendel had, and the family ate rabbit stew or whatever on a regular basis.
That is how it was always done until here in America we had our constitutional republic undermined by the lying hypocritical bureaucrats who are successfully installing the coming 1984 type dystopia upon us.
I was in France in the foothills of the Alps last year. We found a cheese shop run by the people who herded the sheep and cows that provided the milk for the cheese.
There is no doubt better cheese on this planet. There is simply not not of it and it cannot be much better.
Some historical perspective on the “ridiculous regulation” of cheese made from unpasteurized milk.
In the not so recent past, outbreaks of typhoid fever and many other diseases were caused by such cheeses.
I’m not claiming the present regulations are necessary or proper. Simply pointing out that we’ve gotten so used to taking bacterially safe food for granted that we forget nothing on this earth is more “natural” than a bacterial infection.
Which can probably be treated easily today, but 100 years ago would kill you dead.
We did a AmaWaterways river cruise from Paris to Normandy last year. Every day the head chef took a taxi to market purchased all fresh food for that night’s dinner. It was amazing.
I am in Toronto on a trip and noticed all the places and things that would be stopped immediately in the US, particularly second-story restaurants with only stairs that inspectors here wouldn’t allow for the handicapped’s sake, and jaywalking galore. It was so refreshing. They are building high-rise buildings like mad (making room for expat California companies and their workers?). A very friendly city. And the food sold outside on stands was gorgeous - fruits and vegetables I’d never seen before.
This is one thing I like about Kentucky.
Interestingly, vegetables are dirt cheap in the grocery store during the summer. Supply and demand at work.
I had a lengthy conversation with former fruit stand vendor, and he told me in no uncertain terms, that he blamed NAFTA for the demise of roadside citrus stands. He embarked on selling seashells and beach trinkets, and was barely surviving. I hope he is still in business, but I don’t think so.
Izzat you, Jon Cary?
Euro-weenie alert?
Bakeries....are a dying breed in CT.....if we had a *real* bakery I’d drive miles....[Panera and Whole Foods don’t count.]
Must be a California thing.
Here in Connecticut there are farmers markets every weekend in most towns and there are seasonal farm stands everywhere.
The farm stands are certainly fresher than the grocery stores, but they are about the same price.
Connecticut grown produce is at its peak right now. Corn, tomatoes, peppers, just great!
La was the cradle of the food truck business. All varieties. Saw one Mexican Korean fusion.
Some have great reps and clientele.
This is why I cook 90% of the time - I don't trust that most people wash their hands, no matter where they are cooking.
There’s two bakeries about a five minute walk from where I live. Fresh bread baked daily....good stuff! And cheap, too! A one-kilo (2.2 lbs) loaf of bread here is about $1.35, baked fresh every morning.
I even started making my own eggrolls after seeing a big brand name I see in the frozen section of the grocery store had been shut down because of filthy factory conditions... ick.
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