Sunday 25 September 2016

Buy local

On our way home we stopped for supplies, bread and tomatoes, from the branch of a big greek supermarket chain.  This in a huge citrus growing area.  I was flabbergasted * to see lemons on sale there, lemons from South Africa at 2.34 euros a kilo.  S. Africa is about as far away as you can get from Greece.  Just 10 metres away from the, Greek (so they say), supermarket was a stall selling bags of lemons, fresh from the local trees at 1 euro a kilo.  Has the world gone mad.  Of course, you say, if it was only this......

 Greece is in an economic crisis and here we have local producers being sabotaged  by a government allowing foreign (and non EU) produce such as this to be brought in and sold.  I can only hope that no-one was buying.  These lemons were a bright yellow and glistened, I presume with wax and some kind of preservative.  I suppose if they don't sell here, they'll sell elsewhere, in Athens say, where lemon trees do not grow in everyone's back yard. What a bloody shame.

*flabbergasted.  Of course, I googled this amazing word.  It's origin is uncertain but first appears in print in 1772.
The British comedian Frankie Howerd used to say in mock astonishment: “I’m flabbergasted — never has my flabber been so gasted!”  
Thank you, Worldwidewords.





Thank you my two daughters who watered my squash while we were away.  It grew from a tiny 'acorn' into a mighty 'oak'.  The plant had six flowers this morning.  Why has it only produced one squash?

5 comments:

  1. My two Pumpkin seeds grew into VAST amounts of huge leaves, and looked full of promise. Now that the leaves have died away, I find that I have just two Pumpkins; one quite big, and one small.

    I often buy a Leg of Lamb. They come all the way from NZ and cost around €18. If I buy a locally produced Leg of Lamb it costs around €30. Figure that one out.

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  2. Actually, the lamb thing is the same here. Frozen NZ lamb is much cheaper and we eat it now and again . I never complain about that of course..or the cheap Chinese clothes we buy. Fresh lamb is much dearer and made in gr clothing is out of our range. These lemons just seemed so absurd. There they were fresh a few yards away at half the price. A global market. We have the choice at least.

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  3. It's great to be able to exploit the family occasionally! I hope you feel refreshed, batteries recharged after your holiday.
    We have some wonderful local foods on offer around here and yet people just trot to the supermarket and buy the pre-packaged, plastic versions which have travelled far too many miles.

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  4. I can understand one stop shopping and buying cheap. Nowadays a lot of people don't have the time or money to source out and buy something fresher and more nutricious (hence Jamie Oliver lol) but this was ridiculous. And greek people do prefer local. Who is buying this crap and why aren't the local lemons being sold or even from Spain and Portugal. We have summer and winter citrus here so it is available fresh all the year round.

    As for feeling relaxed....well I suppose I am because I have the energy to do 6 loads of washing and start the changeover from summmer to winter. Clothes and curtains. What a pain.

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    Replies
    1. Ah, but you will feel so virtuous once that is all done - exhausted, too, of course - so come round and have a slice of that pear and walnut cake, I've made the syrup now... that will either energise you, or send you to sleep.

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