WHY IT TAKES 30 MINUTES TO BUY A CHICKEN

Don't you dare choose me!

I am old enough to remember the days before supermarkets, when Sainsbury was a deli store and when in the small shops you used to have to queue to get served and the whole experience was as much about social interaction as it was about shopping.  These were the days when we didn’t have a fridge and mum used to go shopping almost every day.   The shopkeepers often used to have a wicked sense of humour and I remember during bob-a-job week going in as a young cub to buy ice cream for someone and being asked if I wanted the ice cream hot or cold!   It foxed me for a while!

What many of us Brits love about France is that it is like going back in time in many respects.  Funnily enough what a lot of the French youngsters love about London is that it is so modern and always changing.   In England, supermarkets changed everything and even small shops nowadays tend to be reasonably impersonal.    En France they have the grand surfaces or big supermarkets but many of the small stores have remained the same.   Buy direct from the producer and it is another level again and this is why it can take 30 minutes to buy a chicken!

Outside the farmshop with our dogs

In Veaugues we are lucky enough to have a small poultry farmer who sells his poulets (chickens) and pintades (guinea fowl) direct to the locals. Now one thing that surprises us Brits about France is that they don’t eat nearly as much chicken as in the UK.  In the UK chicken has almost become the norm and is regarded as the healthy option, us rosbifs (“roast beefs”) eat hardly any beef any more.   The French eat far more beef,  and chicken is a special occasion meal and even in the supermarkets you don’t see chiller shelves full of factory-produced chickens.   I remember when it was like this in England and we had chicken perhaps just once a year at Easter.  In the nineteen fifties chicken was really expensive and a real luxury item; lamb, pork and beef were much more affordable.  I used to have an austerity cookbook dating back to that time and there were no chicken recipes at all in it.   Then along came Bernard Matthews……….

M .Joulain prepares our pintade

Anyway, back to current day Veaugues.  Having seen his sign we decided to ring  Monsieur Joulain and see if we could come along immediately and buy a chicken; the usual modern wish of instant gratification.   M. Joulain protested that as he didn’t know us, how could he possibly know what type of chicken we wanted; there are different types of chicken!!   Eventually, we persuaded him that we should come along and meet him and tell him our needs; ie a chicken to roast!

This we did and eventually a chicken was selected and given to us nicely hand wrapped.  Then came the next surprise; no payment was expected, the first purchase was free.  Meanwhile Monsieur Joulain had been practising his English on us and conversation had flowed for a considerable time.  Hence it can take at least 30 minutes to buy a chicken.

Our pintade complete with head

At home we found another surprise awaiting us, the chicken still had its head on! Definitely not what you would find in a supermarket.   It reminded me of when I was in China at the Beijing duck restaurant and a whole duck was served to us in the various courses and I do mean the whole duck – eventually the head was served as a special treat to the oldest person on the table – luckily I was quite young then.

Jane with M.Joulain

The next time we visited Monsieur Poulain, we had to pay of course,  and we chose to try one of his pintades, something relatively rare in the UK.  Again the transaction took over 30 minutes but really added to the joy of the day.  I got a chance to practise my French and Monsieur Joulain got a chance to practise his English.  Great old-fashioned service.  You pay for it as the poultry isn’t cheap but at least you know the chicken has had a healthy life and has not been reared in a Bernard Matthews type factory farm.  The chicken has more texture and more flavour, something I’m not sure that most Brits would appreciate!   Vive la difference, as us Brits might say.

It is certainly great fun living a different lifestyle.  We don't don't exactly live in a city in England either but going to a farm shop around where we live is not nearly such a fun experience.  In England everything is a rush.

A very Pop Larkin scene near Mr Joulain's farm