British Food ...

[Brian and Helen]

OK, I'll try them, but I warn you, I am a worshiper of Waitrose Colombian beans.

(I hate Sainsburys, it's a faf to get to and nothing is in the right place!)

B

[anneb]

Make sure you get the Taste the Difference Columbian coffee beans !

I always get my shopping online from Sainsburys so someone else finds everything I need - easy, and free delivery mid week

[foudanglais]

Thank you all for the feed (ha ha) back on my choice of products and I do agree, I would love to stock all sorts of things , I am unfortunately a bit stuck due to my suppliers. I don't go back to England with a van so I can't just fill it up at tescos and yes, I could get Tescos to deliver to me but then I'd have to sell things at horrendous prices.
However things like smoked bacon I can get and frank cooper's marmalade is arriving this week. Please, please do come in and give me your list and I will do my best to find the products.
The café serves good tea and coffee with real milk and I would love to meet you all, even the person who finds it embarrassing and will never speak English in Clermont again, I promise to speak to you only in French!

[Brian and Helen]

Touche!

Regrettably, neither Anne nor we are resident in Languedoc yet, but we'll be there in a couple of months and Anne will follow after a year or two (I believe)

We'll hold you to that!

B & H

[hesfordj]

I honestly think, having known at least 4 people who have tried to do this as a business, there is not enough demand for those kind of products for the business to survive.

As has been said, there could be a market for more upmarket products and there would also then be a chance of selling them to the locals too but it would take some effort to get them known.

The only English food purveyor I know who is successful is Mister Saussice with his high quality sausages and bacon.

The supermarkets stock English cheeses, Marmite, Marmalade, Digestives and Tea.

Regarding coffee, I cannot believe that any supermarket brand is better than the beans I get from the Coffee roaster in Agrosud in Perpigan. Are there no coffee roasters up in l'Herault?

[gurubarry]

There's a MASSIVE one outside of Laverune .......

[Brian and Helen]

There's a MASSIVE one outside of Laverune .......

Tha' be orl right for 'ee city volks, but I'm damned if I'm going to drive all the way up there every week for my fix!

Brian

[anneb]

The café serves good tea and coffee with real milk and I would love to meet you all, even the person who finds it embarrassing and will never speak English in Clermont again, I promise to speak to you only in French!

That's me ! We will defnitley pop in to your café when we're next in Clermont - hopefully September. Now I feel embarrased to have written what I wrote with you on here !
Anne and Mark

[Las-Cobas]

You can always order excellent Pork sausages from, Tim Rose : http://www.mistersaucisse.fr

He is at: Quillan (Saturday & Wednesday morning)

Mirepoix (Monday morning) - Under the "bandstand"

Olonzac (Tuesday morning) - Under the "bandstand"

Esperaza (Sunday morning) - Next to the Nems and Chinese food wagon

Great Bangers

[Genghis Cohen]

Like Jonathan said. It's been tried before and almost always failed. Why? Because the majority of Brits living down here are Francophiles. We live here because it is our choice We're not refugees always dreaming of our lost homeland and desperate to recreate it on foreign soil.

I've got a house near Clermont but I doubt I will ever patronise this venture. Any more than I ever crossed the threshold of Cooper's Epicerie in Argeles. Despite the fact I drove past it at least once a week.

This stuff just does not interest us. We can do without Heinz Beans, HP Sauce et al. As for sausages. Simple. If you really cannot do without British Bangers then buy a decent mincing machine with a sausage fillling attachment and make your own. We do, and they taste fabulous!

Genghis Cohen

PS Having reviewed what I've written I think a postscript is in order. I am not being negative, just pragmatic. Last time we were in the UK with a car we brought back a box of edible goodies. All of them Asian food items which you just cannot buy here. Including a catering pack of mango chutney. But no ethnic British stuff.

[Sandra]

The english tea shop in Pezenas was successful, it closed down because the girls wished to return to the UK and unfortunately nobody wanted to buy the established business but it was profitable. The french loved the afternoon teas and lots of local french used the shop.

good luck and if I am ever near Clermont I will pop in.

[Sandra]

it may be worth looking at the suppliers for the Costa Brava ie lloret, calella etc as there are so many english pubs serving english food, and they may be cheaper than french suppliers.

Hellmans is the best mayo but it has to be in a jar, it tastes different in the plastic bottle ! ( i don't like mustard which is in most french versions).

after a weekend in the UK eating an amazing curry, tender fillet steak, breakfast with bacon from the local butcher..... I can't wait to have a nice salad tonight..

[Brian and Helen]

Still foudanglais stocks Polo mints - a Godsend!

(Those with horses will understand the importance of this)

Brian

[maxou]

Are there no coffee roasters up in l'Herault?

Café Bibal in St Aunes.

Or, as gurubarry pointed out, one of my favourite local landmarks: The Carte Noir tower!

[gurubarry]

Well done maxou ...We know when it will rain as the wonderful aroma drifts down to our quartier , heaven

[one over the 8]

Sandra you can buy large jars of Hellmans in the large Escudero, Le Jonquera, Spain for around 1.80€. The same sized jar would cost around 4.50€ in France. I too hate mayo which contains mustard.

[hesfordj]

Here's the latest news from Mister Saucisse, AKA Tim Rose. He's based near Carcassonne so if you don't live in the PO there are easier ways to get the sausages.

Summer is with us and we are well into the barbecue season. What better than an English style banger sizzling away over the hot coals?

I'm coming back down to the Pyrenees Orientales on Thursday, 16th of August with a selection of my fine English sausages for the discerning customer. All bangers are hand made by me in the Aude.

The sausages I'm making this time are:

The Tasty - a typical English breakfast sausage, great for a brunch
The Traditional - sausages like they used to be with a subtle mix of herbs and a hint of nutmeg
The Pyrenean Cumberland - our speciality having trained in Cumbria.
Pork and Leek - no small crumbs of leek, we use great big bits!
Jalapeno - mexican chillis for a bit of exotic heat

Plus some specials:
London - sea salt, cracked black pepper and sage with a pinch of nutmeg
Oxford - Yet another great county sausage. The original recipe from the 18th Century was made with pork and veal. This recipe is specially designed for pork. It is packed with herbs and lots of ground black and white pepper and other traditional ground spices.


All at 5 euros per packet for six big bangers. Sausage meat also available for making stuffing, sausage rolls, scotch eggs...... I may also have some bacon available - hand rubbed, dry cured back bacon.

I only use shoulder meat, the best cut for making sausages (no "yucky bits"), and add no fat. The sausages are made in my small manufacturing facility in the Aude, Languedoc Rousillon. Visitors are always welcome (phone ahead to make sure I'm in) and I will make you a great cup of tea.

I never use frozen pork, only fresh. Sausages are ideal for the freezer.

I will be appearing at the following drop off points:
0900 - 0915 St Paul de Fenouillet, main square behind the bus stop
1115 - 1145 Prades, behind the big blue Chambre de Commerce building on the way into the town
1230 - 1315 The Domaine Treloar, Trouillas where Jon and Rachel are very kindly hosting me
1415 - 1445 Behind the Salle Polyvalente, St Jean Pla de Corts (hopefully more handy for those living in the Ceret / Argeles areas)
1530 - 1600 Stade Gilbert Brutus, Perpignan - in front of the old main entrance to the Catalan Dragons ground

Please PRE ORDERS ONLY. Orders as soon as possible please!

Please tell your friends, both Anglophone and French.

Many thanks for reading.

Best wishes

Tim
www.mistersaucisse.fr

[foudanglais]

Anyone in the Montpellier area needing a British Food Fix ?! I am delivering Thursday evening to Montpellier, frozen and normal groceries, please contact me if you are interested contact@foudanglais.fr or call the shop 04 30 40 29 54

[peter]

LIDL British week Wednesday 10 October 2012

The usual selection of Brit stuff and often not exactly the same as in the ad ...

Starving Brits will once again join the 09.00 struggle to secure the limited stock of €0.49 baked beans I imagine !

http://www.lidl.fr/cps/rde/xchg/lidl_fr ... date=34390

[Christopher]

British Style Jog Hurt! Yum!

[Christopher]

Plenty of beans left in Sommieres and Quissac this lunchtime, despite the passage of at least three English shoppers. Not much uptake on the frozen fish and chips either.

[peter]

4 tins of beans had been sold in Sommieres when I passed by at 10.00.

I've had a call from someone who bought 12 tins around 12.00.

Not really a feeding frenzy this time ?