I posted this on European Tribune but thought it might provide a bit of light relief after a heavy weekend in the US.
I have been partly inspired by Lupin's experiences of moving to France, mildly amused by an item on a TV program here this morning and prompted by a trip to a local supermarket.
What had struck me it the surprising way in which the range of widely available items in shops has changed over the 50 odd years I have been on this moral coil. Below the fold I'll give a few examples and maybe you have noticed similar things in your (no doubt more limited) experience.
In the early 1950s, Britain still had sweets (candy) and bread rationing. Since then our interaction with continental Europe has brought about amazing changes to the British diet. This morning a TV program had an item about a garlic farm on the Isle of Wight (just off the south coast) that exports its crop to France and Italy. This is from a country that within my lifetime had an April Fool's joke on a prestige BBC documentary program, Panorama, which showed the "harvest from the spaghetti trees in Italy". I can remember when olive oil was a light yellow liquid you purchased in 100ml bottles in the chemist's shop. Chocolate has changed from light brown vegetable fat to the point where the national supermarkets have their own brands with over 70% cocoa solids.
What really triggered this musing was a weekend trip to my local Lidl's. For those not familiar with the chain, they and Aldi are German supermarket chains that have branches throughout Europe. They both work on the principle of buying large supplies for all their stores to keep down costs. Their other technique is having limited ranges so maybe only one brand of any type of foodstuff is carried and their stores are about the same size as a US convenience store. This can sometimes lead to great fun trying to find the list of ingredients when you have to go through the lists in virtually all the EU languages. It works wonders for your foreign language vocabulary mind you. The pan-European buying can have consequences though, apart from a strange familiarity when you encounter a familiar shop frontage in Turin or Munich. Little known is the difference in preference in the style of instant coffee - while the British tend to prefer a lighter roast with more Aribica beans, many mainland countries prefer a darker roast with more Robusta.
Tesco's, a UK supermarket chain that has stores in much of Europe, tends to reflect local tastes much more. Lidl's and Aldi on the other hand make fairly minor concessions which has some interesting results. Their buying power makes what used to be luxury items, only in specialist stores, incredibly cheap and available. (Lidl's 3 litre packed vanilla ice cream with the vanilla seeds visible is really yummy even if half their customers in the UK must wonder what the black bits are!) This weekend saw the start of them selling their large Autumn/Christmas best sellers so the local store had a big display of German stollen and Italian pannatone. I must admit a particular liking for Torinese style pannatone (with the dried fruit rather than just powdered sugar over the top). This goes back to a visit to friends in Turin for a weekend about 6 years ago. At work we used to bring back some edibles from our trips away to share with the office. Having lugged back the box with a pannatone in, I was not terribly pleased when I found out that the local Lidl's had the same style and brand and cheaper than I paid in Italy!! Still I did forgive them after getting through the second one at home ;-)
It strikes me that this sort of pan-continental marketing may well have changed the things my European compatriots have a secret nibble on. Germans have found the sticky delights of English "Christmas pudding"? Have the French got turned on by stilton cheese?