Sustainability and supermarkets

The majority of us do our food shopping in supermarkets. In 2013, Colruyt took first place in providing consumers the Belgian food market, with Delhaize in second place, closely followed by Carrefour.

I think all of us are aware of the environmental issues surrounding growing and transporting food. As consumers, every decision we make has consequences. I’m not going to get into discussions over flying in green beans from Kenya versus growing bananas in artificially lit and heated environments in countries where they could not otherwise grow. Neither do I claim to offer exhaustive research on sustainable food – I’m just trying to throw a bit of light on the topic so that I – and maybe you – can make more informed decisions about how and where we feed ourselves.

First thing up is finding out how the supermarkets fill their shelves so, here we go! And before we go any further, just be aware that I got all of the information below from the supermarket’s own websites, so if course they’re all going to say that they are wonderful at this whole environmental thing! Hmmm.

I'm going to look at Colruyt in this first post, followed by Delhaize and Carrefour in the coming weeks. 

By the way, Felicity Cloake wrote about the food shopping dilemma in this article recently. 

A change of plans

I’m a regular user of the Delhaize’s Caddyhome service. It’s a great service, especially if you’re ordering lots of heavy things like cleaning products and drinks. You place your order a couple of days in advance, select the time you want it delivered at and they turn up with your goodies. The quality of the food is excellent – I’ve never had a problem and it’s exactly what I would put in my trolley myself. The only drawback is that some products are unavailable like I can never get shelled, non-frozen prawns (#firstworldproblem) or fresh bread. I still have to pop into a supermarket every so often to get those ‘unusual’ items.

I was placing my order last week and I nearly started hyperventilating with excitement as the gibier (game) had finally arrived. I held back from just ordering one of everything, and finally selected some venison chunks to make carbonnade and some boar medallions.

Saturday rolled around and Mr Delhaize arrived (btw, kudos to Delhaize Caddyhome as everyone who has ever delivered to our place is lovely, considerate and accommodating – they take care not to make a mess, they empty the crates, take your empty bottles, check deliveries, answer questions, and are just nice) but the venison and the boar didn’t as Delhaize hadn’t received their order! Oh nooooooooo!

So, I found myself with all the support cast for my planned dinners – red cabbage, celeriac and industrial quantities of mushrooms. Thankfully I’d also ordered a whole turkey breast, so instead of venison carbonnades we had roast turkey with red cabbage and celeriac and potato mash and roast parsnips and carrots. I’d definitely never prepared celeriac before, and I’m not sure if I’d ever eaten it (I know! And it features on every Masterchef season). It’s nice! I will try it again. Every day’s a school day.

Dinner on Sunday was leftover roast turkey in a pie with some fresh veg topped with the leftover mash – think this recipe without the pastry and with potatoes.

Shopping

Oh grocery shopping, how do I love thee, let me count the ways…

Let’s get things straight. Grocery shopping is not the most exciting thing in the world, and shopping in a strange country can be difficult and time consuming.

Here, I hope to bring you news of where you can buy some UK/Irish goodies ‘locally’, or where you can get them delivered to your door. As this topic is quite broad, this is just a taster. I will expand on some of these topics some other time. If all goes well, I may also be able to decipher what some of those strange things in the supermarket are and what to do with them.

Of course, my experience is limited, so if you know of somewhere of interest to expats, send me a mail or tell the world about it in the comments below!

Internet

First up, there are internet-based companies that import goodies from the UK to Belgium. One of these is the Internet Grocer, which stocks a wide variety of those little things that you miss. Order by Tuesday evening and the lovely Giles will deliver it on Friday.

Brussels and surroundings-based shops

There are several dedicated expat shops around Brussels that sell Irish and UK store-cupboard foods. Catering for fresh food enthusiasts however, is Jack O’Shea’s butchers on Rue le Titan (corner of Rue Franklin). As well as excellent Irish beef, lamb, pork and chicken, Jack’s also stocks Irish cheeses, home-baked goods, fresh brown bread, Tayto crisps and a wide range of condiments to complement everything they sell. The staff are very friendly and knowledgeable.

Grocery shops and chains are finally copping onto the fact that there are a lot of expats here who like buying food that reminds us of home. The big supermarkets are getting better about stocking ‘foreign’ food and many, particularly in areas with a high expat concentration, now have ‘foreign’ food shelves/aisles. The range of goods is fairly much the same everywhere. On my travels, I’ve spotted English goodies such as Coleman’s mustard, Dorset cereals, Digestive biscuits, Cadbury’s chocolate and the like.

Carrefour (Kraainum and chaussee de Bruxelles, 299 Waterloo for example) seems to have the biggest range, without having to go to a specialist shop. The Carrefour at the Mont St Jean in Waterloo (chaussee de Charleroi, 579) has a dedicated long aisle. The GB in Merode also has a selection, albeit much smaller. The fruit and vegetable selection in this store is the best I’ve seen in this country, with a vast selection of exotic and not so exotic (parsnips anyone?) fresh* produce. You also have the charming experience of having someone weigh your choices.

Of the Delhaize’s I’ve visited, the choice of expat food stuffs is more limited. Saying that, the Delhaize in Braine l’Alleud is the only shop in which I’ve seen halloumi for sale.

Things I’ve never seen for sale

I’ve never seen fresh breadcrumbs for sale, so you will have to make your own or talk nicely to your local baker. Supermarkets do sell boxes of ‘chapelure’ which is balls of some unknown (to me) hard substance, which translates into breadcrumbs. Make your own. I've also never seen bags of frozen sweetcorn in the supermarket. 

I’m still on the look-out for a fishmonger that sells fresh fish at an affordable price. And that doesn’t weigh the fish, offer to gut it and then tries to sell it to you for the pre-gutted price.

Markets

There are many food markets in Brussels and its environs. You can find a list here (in French).

Non-grocery shopping

On a more interesting note, many more UK and Irish high-street shops are now delivering to the continent. The list is ever expanding. Mind the conversion rate, and if possible buy in GBP as (usually) the Euro price is much higher.

* usually it’s quite fresh, and keeps for a few days. As with most supermerkets everywhere, you may be better off shopping little and often.