Where to Shop, What to Eat

Monday, November 5, 2007
Bangor

Sunny this morning after a rainy night, with a stiff, fresh wind whipping all the trees around and flinging leaves skyward. There is always something new to notice on my walks along the path; the other morning when I went early the tide was very low, and on the beach were two people with big buckets and sacks gathering mussels. Today the tide was already up; there were several groups of older gentlemen on the trail looking dapper; they invariably all wish me a cheery “Morning!” A small sailboat was out in Ballyholme Bay, going so fast towards land I watched closely to make sure they weren’t going to crash and need HM’s (Her Majesty’s) coast guard assistance. Then I noticed the banner next to the small amphitheatre used by the Congregational Church. Originally the banner said “Christ Died For the Ungodly.” A little black paint carefully applied by some pranksters leaves it “Christ Died for the Ugly.” I shouldn’t have laughed when I saw it, I know, but I couldn’t help myself.

You don’t realize until you’re in a completely unfamiliar place trying to do everyday things, how much accumulated knowledge you have about your native ground. Or, until you’re on a very strict budget, how mindless you used to be about how much you pay for the basics at the various stores. Walt is keeping track of how much things cost at which place, so we’ll know better next time around. But for those of us who are thinking about the origins of the food we eat and how it was raised, trying to know what to buy and where to buy it in a completely new place is practically a half time job. At home I even know which brands of organic milk are better than others – here, I don’t even know if conventionally produced milk contains bovine growth hormone like it does in the States, or if conventional dairies here let their cows graze on grass or not. I don’t know what free range means when applied to eggs here, and am hopeful it means more than it does in the States. I don’t know if conventional beef is cornfed from start to finish and kept in confined areas, or grazed on pasture like it should be. I’ve posted a few questions regarding these issues to a listserv I belong to, and we’ll see if anyone helps me out. At the worst, I can start searching online for news stories and relevant web sites. At lunch today I found myself really missing the meals we ate on the farms in France, where not only did we know where the food had come from but had sometimes helped harvest it.

I bought some basics this morning at the two grocery stores upstairs in the little downtown mall: Cheerios, milk, cream, cheddar, plums, oranges, apple cider, bread, goat milk, canned salmon. The multigrain Cheerios were on sale and Reed is enjoying them and can fix his own breakfast with cold cereal, so although I never buy cold cereal at home, here, we’re caving in. But I’m happy to note that nothing contains high fructose corn syrup here, even sweetened cereal. Sugar, it says, right there on the label. The milk is from a company called Dale Farm, that I read on the internet does organic milk as well. This milk isn’t labeled organic, but it is processed in Belfast, so that, at least, seems local. The cheddar cheese is factory produced crap for our sandwiches, just like we buy from Tillamook at home. We’ll go to Spice for our artisan cheese later in the week, for a treat for the weekend. The bread is commercially baked multigrain with seeds and contains no corn syrup. The plums came from Britain, and the oranges came from Spain. The goat milk came from Britain, and the canned salmon, also on sale, is wild Alaskan sockeye. The apple juice came from Britain as well. This store is supposedly a cooperative, but there doesn’t seem to be much emphasis on organic items – I have a feeling the cooperative label has more to do with their business model than their environmental principles, although they do have a big sign proclaiming that their carbon footprint is lower than other supermarkets. So I’m just not sure what their priorities are.

I’m anxious to go to the market on Wednesday morning to find out what’s available there. If I’m lucky, there’ll be some direct sales from local farmers.