Friends You Can Count on

I particularly like that when I want things like fresh peppermint leaves, he’ll bring me a branch off his grandmother’s plant. Now that’s real customer service.

The Meat for a Treat

My local butcher is a short distance from my local chain stores, and I try to support him as much as I possibly can. I am still a meat-eater, for all that it’s damaging for the planet, but I do try to eat less than I used to, and make it worth it when I do.

This is where my good and close relationship with my butcher comes into play. The people who work there now know me quite well. I come in with my cookbooks and ask for exotic new cuts of meat, named differently to what they call them in Turkey, and I show pictures so we can work it out together.

They’re always highly pleased to help out, and always enquire, with perfect memories, how well the preparation of the previous meal went.

Small Businesses Need Our Support

Although I love my Supermarket and Carrefour, I also like the close and personal relationship I have developed with my butcher and my green grocer. I wish they were all in a row on the main street, for my ease of shopping, and that we also had a fishmonger to boot.

Aside from the fact that shopping like this is a good way to support our small business, it also allows you to gain a level of familiarity with the people and the produce that you’re buying. You can find out where your fish was caught that morning and whether it’s caught with line fishing or nets (line fishing is better as it reduces waste).

You can find out if your healthy vegetables are locally grown, and get peppermint leaves from a grandmother’s garden. And you can choose the best piece of meat to make your occasional meat eating worthwhile.

But you still have to try and remember to take shopping bags with you and not forget them at the door.