{"id":7219,"date":"2015-03-26T19:36:52","date_gmt":"2015-03-26T18:36:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jameswhelanbutchers.com\/info\/?p=7219"},"modified":"2015-03-26T19:36:52","modified_gmt":"2015-03-26T18:36:52","slug":"great-food-resurrection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jameswhelanbutchers.com\/info\/7219\/great-food-resurrection\/","title":{"rendered":"The Great Food Resurrection"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Painted<\/a>I\u2019m very fond of Easter as a holiday.\u00a0 It involves none of the frenetic nature of Christmas, the gifts are easy; a chocolate egg or a chocolate egg and (usually) the weather is milder and of course days longer.\u00a0\u00a0 As a child I always dreaded the boredom of Good Friday when absolutely everything shut down in this country and yet today, having now experienced many \u2018shops open\u2019 Good Fridays, I yearn for the ones of my childhood.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know anyone who wouldn\u2019t enjoy the simplicity of a seemingly endless day with absolutely no distractions.<\/p>\n

While this new multicultural and multi ethnic Ireland has forever closed the door on how we celebrated Easter in the past, I have definitely noticed a general shift back to simplicity.\u00a0 Our values have, without a doubt, changed in recent years due in part to the slump in the economy.\u00a0 Jobs are more precious than ever and while we still have a love affair with technology, I think we now understand that it can complicate our lives as much as it creates efficiency.\u00a0 We all realise the advantages of a simpler life today and while in the past we pretended by giving it fancy names like \u2018going green\u2019 or having a \u2018social conscience\u2019 I\u2019m not sure if we really wanted simplicity at all.\u00a0 Today more and more people do.\u00a0 The trouble is that now we are in the middle of this unholy mess of stuff and clutter, tangible and intangible, we are suddenly aware that it is much harder to remove things and activities from our lives than it is to add them.\u00a0 Such a theory can be applied to kitchen utensils as much as it can to our personal relationships.\u00a0\"Leg<\/a><\/p>\n

This returning and yearning for all things simple is very good news for food, particularly the smaller independent operator within the food sector.\u00a0 People are willing to go the extra mile because finally they once again put a value on the \u2018little guy\u2019 who grows his vegetables, rears his animals, makes his cheese or bakes his bread to sell on the local market.\u00a0 His (or her) aim is to earn a good living and achieve a balanced quality lifestyle rather than the overarching and all consuming ambition of becoming a global captain of industry.\u00a0 While the latter has great monetary rewards it can carry a great deal of personal sacrifice.\u00a0 Finally we are putting a value on the independent grower or the person who is striving to make a difference.\u00a0 In this time where jobs are indeed precious I think we like to support a business of that nature. It is a win win for the customer also, as usually one farm, one person or one business is dedicated to creating a quality product or products.\u00a0 We like to support local, but even our definition of \u2018local\u2019 has broadened beyond a geographical boundary.\u00a0 The new \u2018local\u2019 is really about a spirit of independence and entrepreneurship and that much shorter and healthier chain from maker to market and being \u2018local\u2019 to somewhere in the country.<\/p>\n

There is another emerging trend that really takes us back to the days of our grandparents and that is buying less, but shopping more often.\u00a0 Rather than filling trolleys and making the one marathon trip to the supermarket each week, we are rediscovering the butcher, the baker and the cheese maker.\u00a0 Hurray, at last!\u00a0 We are finally putting a little more value on what we put into our stomachs and the pool of knowledge and personal service available in smaller independent shops and market places.\u00a0 While we are all watching our pennies, we can see the merit in buying fresh meat, enjoying quality cheese or speciality breads.\u00a0 They might be considered luxuries in some quarters, but they are luxuries we can still afford.\u00a0 People also seem to be more interested in a chat too.\u00a0 It was always important at our shop, but once again people have time for a bit of light hearted banter and a smile \u2013 it is a very good thing indeed.\u00a0 While the chat is inevitably a boost to our mental health we are also keen to keep our general health in check.\u00a0 We are more aware than ever before just how much our diet contributes to our overall wellness and so we are concerned with nutrition and the make up of our food.\u00a0 We have, thankfully, moved away from the \u2018fat is bad\u2019 to becoming a more educated bunch and realising that some fat is not only good for us but necessary to keep us alive, young looking and well.<\/p>\n