The Cheese Block

[Louisa]

BNG I've been on an all inclusive to Tenerife and I can assure you baked beans were on the breakfast buffet every morning and I was all inclusive for under 400!

Louisa.

[BrandNewGuy]

That's Tenerife, which isn't on the continent. Now try a supermarket in France, Holland, Italy...

[the-e-dealer]

Yeah no expensive cheese in France . Does Loseria OWN the Cobblers Corner Thread?

[Louisa]

ok this clearly isn't being understood is it? Let me simplify for you.

French premium cheese bought IN FRANCE is cheaper than English premium cheese bought in ENGLAND.

This is an undeniable fact surely?

Louisa.

[BrandNewGuy]

I was confused by your deli argument, which implied that Italian salami, say, is cheaper in delis in Italy than it is in delis in the UK. Which is undeniable but not very interesting.

I don't know about French premium cheeses ? we just have Laughing Cow and Mini Babybel when we're there ;-)

[the-e-dealer]

Loouser you implied all cheese in France is cheaper than ours. Its clearly nonsense.

[Louisa]

I eat laughing cow and babybel all the time too and that's definitely cheaper in France. But premium producers of cheese offer it at a rate acceptable to all people in France, and in England outside of the Christmas season most people invest in cheaper supermarket cheeses because the premium produced British stuff is extortionate in comparison to the supermarket stuff.

Louisa.

[Jeremy]

> premium producers of cheese offer it at a rate acceptable to all people in France

Clearly completely untrue... of any product, in any country. There will always be poorer people who are priced out of premium products.

[Louisa]

Yes Jeremy of course, but it's the extent to which that happens in this country which is of note. In continental countries people of all socio economic backgrounds will spend good money on premium products (however significantly more or less than they happen to be in the UK), and so the kind of disproportionate spread of indepedent delis aimed at people with money in this country would be less likely in a country such as France, Spain and Italy for example.

Louisa.

[BrandNewGuy]

Well, that may be because in Italy, for instance, and to lesser extent France, good food is ingrained in the culture in a way that it isn't in most other countries, so people spend a higher proportion of their dispoable income on it that in the UK.

And the poor in France are going to have problems buying premium stuff, given the level of unemployment and the fact that wealth inequality in France is greater than it is in the UK:

http://blogs.independent.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/dw.jpg

[DaveR]

"Yes Jeremy of course, but it's the extent to which that happens in this country which is of note. In continental countries people of all socio economic backgrounds will spend good money on premium products (however significantly more or less than they happen to be in the UK), and so the kind of disproportionate spread of indepedent delis aimed at people with money in this country would be less likely in a country such as France, Spain and Italy for example."

There is some truth in this (although the earlier post which said it's all about class and snobbery was obviously crap)

To take a single example, proper parmesan cheese (Parmigiano-Reggiano DOC) is not cheap anywhere, and if you go to a fancy independent deli in downtown Parma it's probably more expensive than almost anywhere else, including the late East Dulwich Deli. But in general it's probably a bit cheaper in Italy than here, at least in part because it is not regarded as a luxury product, and people are very aware of how much it should cost. That having been said, the trend in the UK is going in the right direction, in particular because supermarkets are stocking better quality stuff, whilst in some European countries it's getting worse, because people are getting less particular about food. France is now McDonalds' fastest growing European market!

[BrandNewGuy]

The French spend on average 13.4% of their dispoable income on food. In Italy it's 14.4%, while in the UK it's 8.9%.

http://wsm.wsu.edu/researcher/wsmaug11_billions.pdf

[the-e-dealer]

Ramsay has also drawn the ire of vegetarians. In 2005, he served ham to an unknowing vegetarian in an episode of Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares (Ramsay, in narrations during the episode, said he did not realise a chef at the restaurant put ham underneath vegetable toppings. The chef was also shown to have not revealed all of the ingredients within the dish). He has also told the BBC that he has lied to vegetarian diners to conceal the presence of chicken stock in his soup.[85]

[Help-Ma-Boab]

Measure twice, cut once TED.

[the-e-dealer]

Usually with cheese you weigh it.

[edcam]

BrandNewGuy Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> The French spend on average 13.4% of their

> dispoable income on food. In Italy it's 14.4%,

> while in the UK it's 8.9%.

> http://wsm.wsu.edu/researcher/wsmaug11_billions.pd

> f

The most interesting post on the subject so far. The fact is that there is far more choice here now than ever but our terrible supermarket culture and the fact that people are more willing to eat crap here than in some other countries means that the separation between good food and cheap food grows greater all the time.

[????]

plus the FACT that they, ahem, can't cook you know

[Charles Notice]

BrandNewGuy Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> The French spend on average 13.4% of their

> dispoable income on food. In Italy it's 14.4%,

> while in the UK it's 8.9%.

> http://wsm.wsu.edu/researcher/wsmaug11_billions.pd

> f

Probably they have more money in their pockets than rip off Britain

[Alan Medic]

Is that Van Winkle?

[Charles Notice]

No his brother who has amended his post