New organic greengrocer

[Monkey]

I am French and passionate about the bread I eat. Poilane bread is made of the finest ingredients, baked in wood ovens and draws upon a long tradition of bread making. French bakers are trained both at school and via apprenticeships and their skills cannot begin to compare with those of a Somerfield employee turning on an oven and banging some machine-made dough in it. So yes I am ready to pay ?10 for a loaf of delicious bread which will last me and my family for a week or so if kept properly. Poilane also makes the most delicious apple pies and I strongly recommend anyone to visit their shop in Elizabeth street near Sloane Square.

Saying one prefers rice cakes or ryvetas to Poilane bread just disqualifies you from the debate, sorry!

[SimonM]

>>Actually it is not considered the Emperor's New Clothes in France -- there it is considered the king of breads, far >>superior to the modern baguette. But stick with your industrial Kingsmill if you like. <<

Oh right. I don't rate Poilane so it follows I must buy wrapped and sliced supermarket bread?? The only bread we buy is baguettes from either Mootown or Romeo Jones. and occasionally croissants from Blackbird. Everything else is home-made (in a breadmaker admittedly) using damn good flour. Sorry to be so defensive but you did insist on personalising things..

And who are all these people in France who consider Poilane the "king of breads"? I suspect a small cultural elite, as here, given that millions of baguettes are still sold and every town now has its McDonalds....presumably they use Poilane burger buns? :)))

[Monkey]

Baguettes are what sells best in France of course. They go with everything, being much lighter than Poilane. One would not eat Poilane with roast chicken or steak frites. It is a fantastic bread to have with a light dinner (salad and cheese, smoked salmon... for example) or for breakfast with butter and jam. We eat different breads with different things. My mother for example always serves cheese with walnut and raisin bread. I would not eat Poilane all the time. I like a bit of variety and I also like to buy it in the actual Poilane bakeries as it does taste different for some reason that when I have bought it pre-packed in a supermarket. Probably a question of freshness.

[caro ed]

Wow... never thought it was possible to have such a full & lengthy discussion on the subject of bread/baguettes!

On the subject of the quality V cost of food in general, personally I prefer to buy/eat a little of something great than alot of something tosh.... Just my opinion, but I think the Brits (of which, yes I am one but with a European style upbringing) have the same problem with food as they do with wine - not being willing to fork out a reasonable amount of money for quality at the expense of not having tons/gallons of the stuff in order to end up stuffed silly/obese and wasted. And no, that does not make me loaded (far from it) - just someone who is willing to spend more than 10% of my income on what I put inside my body & on my taste-buds! (neither does it make me immune to getting absolutely trollied on WAY too much wine though...:-))

Having said that, the beauty of a free market is that there's room for us all so as long as there's a few shops selling good produce (and to be honest, call me socially irresponsible, but I couldn't care less whether that comes from Sainsbury's or a little deli/independent grocer style shop - just depends on which I happen to be walking past) then as long as people want or need them, whilst I won't be frequenting them, there should also be the Lidl's and Chicken Licken's too.

Surely it's not just all about the ingredients anyway though? For me, the best thing about food is mealtimes and the best thing about mealtimes is sitting round a table with friends/family and enjoying home made, good food slowly while nattering about anything and everything. (weekday breakfasts & lunchtimes sadly are not anything like this but hey ho, makes it all the more special when it can be)

[mikese22]

caro ed Wrote:

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> Wow... never thought it was possible to have such

> a full & lengthy discussion on the subject of

> bread/baguettes!

particularly on a thread entitled 'new organic greengrocer'!

[EDL]

Thanks mkiese22, glad someone finally noticed the title of the thread! I did not mean to start ANOTHER bread bashing thread - just wanted to know if anyone else had heard or knew anything about the GREENGROCER.

[mikese22]

Quite!

Apologies if this has already been covered earlier in the thread, but I understand that it is to be an organic deli and farm sharp, similar to the one they have just opened in Kennington - see link below

http://www.franklinsrestaurant.com/kennington/