Veggie Wars

Gone are the days when I went to Carrouf, ploughing through the aisles to do my weekly shop. I still buy essentials like loo rolls there, but I go elsewhere for food. One of my suppliers is called La Ruche Qui Dit Oui (The hive which says yes), or RQDO. It's a funny name but the idea is good.

A reine, or queen bee decides to set up a ruche. RQDO is a national organisation bringing together a commercial website and local suppliers. It was set up by a couple of whizzo start-up entrepreneurs and is proving to be extremely successful.

The reine signs up on the website to create a ruche. She waits for people to join, which they do by hearing about RQDO and going onto the website to find their nearest ruche. While she's waiting, she searches for suppliers so that when she has enough members, she can go live.

The idea is that suppliers fix a minimum amount of produce that they want to sell before they will 'say yes' to the overall order. There's not much point using petrol to deliver five hundred grams of carrots. If their minimum order is reached, the sale goes ahead; if it doesn't the supplier cancels the orders.

For the consumer, you can choose exactly what you want from the list of produce. If you don't want anything, you don't have to order. At the ruche I go to, you can choose from organic veg, fish, meat, artisan soap, artisan biscuits, and jars of things like caviar d'aubergine and soup, and so on. You can also buy a box of veg according to season from time to time.

There's been a bit of a hoohar recently between the RQDO and AMAP organisations. AMAPs are a similar concept, but you sign up to buy a box of produce every single week, and pay up front or by trimester. It's brilliant for producers because they know they have a fixed consumer list, and can plan ahead for the year's cultivations. For the consumer, they can be reduced to a diet of turnips and cabbage during winter months.

I don't have an AMAP near me, so the decision about which to go for was taken out of my hands, but I'm pretty happy with the RQDO, and like the fact that I can talk to the producers when I go to the ruche on a Thursday evening, and have a bit of a chat.

Hardcore AMAPs fans have been accusing RQDO of being a dirty capitalist organisation consisting of hard-working reines who earn a pittance and evil entrepreneurs who are raking in the profits from their labours. The RQDO takes 16.7% of total sales, gives 8.35% to the reine and uses the rest to pay for salaries of tekkies and admin staff. The average amount earned by a reine per month is €400 apparently although I'm sure my local lady earns a lot less.

The internet was steaming with accusations flying left right and centre (here, here, here) from AMAPers while RQDO reines wrote in to defend their position, and one of the entrepreneurs replied on the RQDO blog.

"La Ruche qui dit Oui ! est un réseau qui réunit des dizaines de milliers de personnes et de multiples organisations. On y trouve des entreprises, des associations, des bénévoles, des clients. Le service qui permet à tous ces gens de se rencontrer, de travailler, de commercer est développé par une entreprise : La Ruche qui dit Oui – Equanum SAS, 50 salariés, une échelle de salaire de 1 à 3, un agrément d’Entreprise Solidaire d’Utilité Sociale.

It's basically a network that brings together thousands of people and multiple organisations, like associations, volunteers, and clients. These people can meet, work and do business via the RQDO which has 50 employees on an earning scale of 1:3. The company has an official status as a socially responsible business.

No system is perfect, but it suits me. This weekend I decided to try the kilo of fish to make into fish soup. The fisherman gave me a polystyrene box of mostly tiny fish, and the recipe, and I made a start. He told me I had to cook the fish and then remove the flesh from the fish. I don't know if this is actually what you should do, but imagine me standing over a hot pot fishing around for very small bits of body and head, getting spiked by vicious bits of bone, and burnt fingers. It took me over half an hour and I was vowing never again would I make a sodding fish soup.

It tasted delicious though, especially with the rouille that I made to go with it which is a fiery mayonnaise. My DB, who moans when I cook fish, was in heaven.

Having looked it up (belatedly), it seems that I just had to put the whole lot through the blender and then sieve it. Have you ever tried to make your own fish soup?

Fuck Global Industrialists

As I grow older, I find myself increasingly pissed off with the effects of globalisation. It appears to equate with land grab, money grab, law of the jungle, scary monopolies (think Monsanto), and the poisoning of both the planet and us. And that's just for starters.

As a result, I have decided to act with my credit card in my own small way. The cost of organic food has come down so I now do nearly all my food shopping in a local organic supermarket and buy mainly local, seasonal fruit and veg. Most of the best nutrients are to be found in the skin of fruit and veg, it's a shame that with non-organic produce you have to peel it because that is where the concentration of pesticides and other toxic chemicals is highest.

You can no longer rely on some labels such as country of origin. I saw that a Chinese company bought a Provençal tomato factory that made tomato purée. The tomatoes are grown in China where there are few regulations (and we all know how reliable the Chinese are when it comes to food safety), transformed by a factory nearby, then shipped to France where the purée is conditioned in pots. It's labelled Produce of France but is about as French as Peking duck.

For meat, I've decided we should eat less but better quality. No more supermarket meat from animals kept in horrific conditions god knows where, and slaughtered god knows how. I go to the village butcher who can tell me where and how the animals were reared, and that they were slaughtered humanely. When we don't eat meat, I try and create vegetarian meals that appeal to my carnivorous sons. They moan about the lack of meat, but eat up anyway because they are actually pretty tasty!

I'm fed up with industrialists taking the piss, endangering our health and the environment for profit and power. Fuck 'em.

Bleach is an environmental and health bugger. I didn't use much before, but I've now stopped buying it totally because there really is no need. We don't need to live in a sterilised home and become prey to the slightest bug. Even my stained white sink can be whitened with lemon juice.

The other day my stock of Carrouf eco dishwasher tabs had run out. Should I buy more or make my own? I decided to test out a recipe I found here on the internet to make either a powder or tablets. I got a large preserving jar and poured in the washing soda, citric acid, baking soda, and sea salt. Muggins here used 'dirty' salt which, I realised once it was too late, has a high humidity content.

The ingredients reacted to the water and bubbled up. It was terribly impressive, a bit like a white lava flow as it poured out over the top of the jar. I had to keep prodding it back to stop it taking over the sink. Eventually it calmed down and I was able to shovel it into ice cube trays, leave it to dry and then shake them out and store in a jar.

They work really well. Used with white vinegar as a rinsing agent, they are just as effective as anything else, and do not harm the water system.

When my current eco house cleaner runs out I'll make my own (p.21), and washing up liquid too.

Not only is less money going to the Big Guys, but DIY products costs much less to make than buying the commercial stuff. Less for them, more for me = win-win!

Organic Extravagence

In the UK you have the organic veg box. In France we have the bio basket. An article in The Times today is all about how producers of bio boxes are having to fight the recession with innovation.

Many people feel they simply can't afford an organic veggie box and are reducing their bills by cutting out the luxury of organic veg. However, when you look at Riverford Farm's website, for example, you see that their organic veg is often around 20% cheaper than supermarket organic veg. Their box for 3-4 people for a week costs £14.55 and contains 10 different veggies. They don't say how much it weighs though.

Compare that with a local bio basket (organic = bio in French). Terre2Sens will deliver (free) a basket, for which you have to pay a one-off consigne of 4€, of 8-10 organic veggies for 30€ which is £26. It weighs 7-8kg. Unlike, Riverford, where some of the veggies are imported and bought in London, Terre2Sens' veggies are all locally produced. If it don't grow here, you don't get it. This is fine, but if you want tomatoes or parsley in winter - two basics - you have to get them elsewhere and add that cost.

This is what is in this week's basket: lettuce, spring onions, Charlotte spuds, raw beetroot, cabbage-turnip, turnips, fennel, onions, Kiwi, clementines, pomelos. There is not a huge variety of veg there, and I can't stand beetroot. You have no choice about what you get in the basket. You take it or leave it. Looking at the list, my boys would leave most of it. However, you are not locked into a contract of having to take a basket per week so you are not obliged to buy a basket of waste.

This is what is in Riverford's box: sante potatoes UK, carrots UK, shallots NL, green batavia lettuce FR, black kale UK, tomatoes ES, jerusalem artichokes UK, calabrese broccoli IT, leeks UK, butternut squash FR. I'm all for eating seasonally as much as possible, and wouldn't want to have, for example, Italian broccoli. With Riverford, you can pick and choose, both veg and delivery schedules.

I was considering trying out the bio basket, but I'm not so sure now. I went to the supermarket yesterday and bought roughly 6kg of fruit and veg for 9€. Okay it wasn't organic, but the cost of the organic box (20€ for 5kg) plus extras would more than double my fruit and veg bill. That's a toughie!

TGO - Olargues

Sometimes when you arrive in a town, you wonder quite why it was you wanted to go there because there is no apparent appeal and you are not inspired to explore further. I surely cannot be speaking about Olargues, one of the 'Most Beautiful Villages in France'. No, I'm not, I'm talking about St Pons de Thomières which is 10km or so west.

In a nutshell, if you're thinking of going there, don't bother. This street, for example, is a run-down crappy old dump with abandoned houses, peeling paint, unpleasant doors and an air of being a poor relation, probably to Olargues. It is charmless and unless you had just got off the plane from somewhere really foul, you couldn't help but be disappointed.

Here, on the wall, is the market. Two stalls: one of tired looking vegetables beneath the parasol and the other charcuterie in a van. Up there is the 'Place du Marché'. The market is obviously not a big thing in St Pons...

Unlike Olargues, where we were heading for the Marché du Bio.

Wishing to forget this 'Capitale du Parc Naturel Régional du Haut Languedoc', we continued on in search of lunch. There had been some discussion about lunching on omelettes aux cèpes at a roadside café in St Pons, but although cèpes are in season, I suggested that in such a place there could be no guarantee that a more financially advantageous using of tinned cèpes wouldn't be what was on offer. Maybe a cynical thought, but don't forget that tourists are considered fair game...

On we thus went, towards Olargues, and stopped in Riols which is tiny, but had a very lovely shaded terrace next to a little restaurant called the Auberge du Jaur. On the other side of the road was a little square where tables sat beneath a series of enormous plane trees. It all looked very jolly and most promising. An elderly couple were regulars and apparently had lunch there every Sunday. Today they had found themselves next to a couple from Jacou near Montpellier and were having a lovely chat all about the history of the village. Monsieur even dashed home to fetch his book on the subject so he could show it to their new friends. Addresses and phone numbers were also swapped!

Not only was the atmosphere friendly, but the food was delightful and extremely copious. I ordered an 'Italian salad' which came with flakes of Gran Padarno, and Italian charcuterie, and was so huge it practically hung over the sides of the plate. That was the starter! Next I had ordered the magret de canard, which came with gratin dauphinoise and gratin de courgettes. Again, you were expected to have a healthy appetite in order to clean the plate. I copped out with just ice-cream for dessert. The menu was 18.50Eur, plus wine.

Feeling somewhat full, we made our way along the winding road to Olargues and parked as soon as we found a spot. The view into the village is stunning, looking over towards the bridge and the tower which dates back to the twelfth century. You walk up through well-maintained streets lined with well-restored houses; all apparent stonework and solid doors. No peeling paint or botched crépy here.

The market was down the main road, with organic producers of wine, vegetables, apple juice, cheese, biscuits and honey. There was also a stall selling some niknaks in ivoire végétale (ivory palm), another selling homespun pullovers (in this heat!), and one guy who brewed his own floral essences. Down at the bottom was an African panier stall where I bought a big reed bucket as a washing basket since my boys have wrecked my two plastic ones.

We tasted the organic wine and took part in a testing of old tomato varieties. They looked promising, but their taste was never better than bland. I filled in the form and gave, out of ten, no more than five overall. I'm pretty fussy about tomatoes and insist on a good strong taste. The only ones which vaguely make the grade are cocktail toms. Anyway, it was fun taking part and the intentions of the growers had to be applauded a) to maintain a diverse tomato stock and b) search for a really tasty tomato.

With Olargues, we were not disappointed. We met some passionate wine growers - ones who believe in producing delicious and healthy wine without chemical yeast or sulphites.

Our drive back, along the D14 which is 'green' for 'beautiful' on the map, was certainly a pleasure, following the river Orb, through Roquebrun with its beach full of people and skirting the north of Béziers to rejoin the autoroute.

So, to recapitulate: don't go to St Pons; do go to Olargues and Riols, and pop into St Chinian and Roquebrun if you have time. Fun days out!