Food is more interesting than ever these days in our house. This is because of the range of foods I can buy from the local food stores, that allow me to cook a greater variety of meals. There are new food products on the shelves, as well as better quality food products. As the economic crisis gives way to a re-examination of values and a new lifestyle, people look more for quality in their purchases rather than just for the cheapest price, as a report from today's news suggests.
The products on the supermarket shelves these days suggest innovation:
They also suggest creativity:
One my favorite 'new' foods is the growing of fresh produce that we used to import, at high prices, with a significant loss of quality and taste:
The products on the supermarket shelves these days suggest innovation:
Olive sweets, prickly pear jam, aloe spread, carob spread, chocolate-strawberry spread, olive marmalade, apple marmalade - a result of post-crisis creativity, or was this the direction we were heading for in the gloabl world?
Mnay butchers now stock a variety of in-house processed meats. I recently bought some of the pork rolls (7.90 euro/kilo) for a Sunday meal.
One my favorite 'new' foods is the growing of fresh produce that we used to import, at high prices, with a significant loss of quality and taste:
Fresh raspberries, grown in Hania - only 20 food miles away from me!
Some new products are a symbol of free trade:
This packet of ground Humalayan salt cost a mere 1 euro. It is just one of a new range of weird and wonderful salt varieites available to the average Cretan who is WTP (willing-to-pay). This salt was available at INKA, but I also saw coarse pink Himalyan salt selling for 3.59 for a little vial, black Cyprus salt, smoked Cyprus salt, red salt from Hawaii and grey salt from Brittany, all selling for 3-4 euro a small jar, all at AB! (Do people really use this stuff in Crete?! and why?!?!?!)
During our trip to London, we bought some supermarket curries which I froze on arrival back home. To my surprise, I needn't have made the effort, as the kind of ready meals (in frozen form, rather than on the cold refrigerated shelves) are now also available in Hania!
Chicken tikka masala from LIDL in Hania (top) and Sainsbury's in London.
There are also some newies which don't quite fit into life in Hania:
Halloween is not celebrated in Greece, but LIDL seems to think otherwise (pumpkin features a lot in this food).
And how about some new uses for old things?
#changinggreece blue rose rice grown in Greece: the white writing in the bottom red line reads 'for sushi and leaf parcels'. Some of you may remember the (well before the crisis) days when this commercial for mayonnaise was being shown:
'Whatcha doin' there Christina?' the ad begins. "I'm opening seaweed (a take on the Greek phrase 'opening filo', which means rolling out pastry) for the children in Athens - they only eat it from my own hands'. The point made in the ad was since Hellmans sells prepared salads, we have more time to do other things in the kitchen.
How all these novelties will shape the Mediterranean diet is anyone's guess. But if the Mediterranean diet is seen as a lifestyle rather than just a food regime, then there is a place for all of them.
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Your food observations are always so interesting, Maria. It's good that you can now get some foods fresher and from not too far away. I would imagine that with a climate such as you have there one could get almost anything locally. Am I incorrect?
ReplyDeleteOver the last years we have gradually shied away from almost ANYTHING premade or processed in a factory. I used to eat "diet" entrees for lunch at school because it was so convenient. Just reach into the freezer in the am, pop the package into your tote and go to work. Now I cannot imagine how I could have eaten that stuff. This change has taken place over about the last 5 years. I
rarely buy meat in the supermarket. Last week we got a few pieces of bison from the ranch down the road. A bison roast, short ribs and 5 pounds of ground bison. Hubby is still going hunting for elk next month, but didn't get a deer this season. I do still buy "artisan" breads made in bakeries in California or here in Colorado, though. The ingredients are so few that it seems they cannot contain junk. Just flour, salt and yeast. Except that the flour in the US was genetically modified back in about the sixties or seventies according to the Internet. We have cut way back on bread in our house although I really, really do love some toasted GOOD "artisan" bread slathered with Irish butter. I sometimes think I could live on bread and butter. We used to make our own bread often but don't anymore because we know we shouldn't eat so much of it. Yes, I buy Irish butter. I shouldn't do that. Now I am looking for President butter from France. And I ordered some Maldon sea salt from a fancy cooking catalog. I really do like it. I only use it from time to time.
I contradict myself, though, when I order stuff from far away. The next step in our quest for clean, local food is to get a goat.
Hubby is very suspicious of that because he fears he will end up doing most of the work. He could be right.
It is a lot of work to produce your own food, I know.We just have learned gradually more and more how to do it. And someday we might be too old to do it. That's not nice to think about.
i havent got used to mail order yet - but i really should, as i can see that i can get better clothing, better seeds for the garden, and sometimes better dry staple ingredients for my pantry, eg rice, pasta, beans, etc
Deletethe global world has introduced some new opportunities for all of us, but not every one has the knowledge to embrace it
but i really cant do without the freezer - i pack all our garden's bounty into it, and i know i am saving heaps, not just on food, but petrol costs and shopping time - not a moment needs to be wasted!