In the smaller Migros/Coop/Denner shops the vegetables and fruit can sometimes be ropey.
Ditto for my local Manor. The restaurant connection hadn't occurred to me but it does make sense. Whereas I do well there out of half price meat which is nearing its sell by date, cut price fruit and vegetables don't feature, and I very rarely have a problem with their quality.
I miss Whole Foods and Central Market, too.
Swiss food and quality? Obviously you don't mean the cuisine, you can judge a countries cuisine by the number of foreign restaurants in its own country and the number of restaurants its successfully exported. So you can't be talking about that. Though you did say the Swiss and quality...
OK, so you mean the ingredients. Once again the Swiss really do have poor quality ingredients in COOP and Migros. You know this because the food rots so quickly. For those that come from the US and UK who are used to fruit and veg that lasts longer but tastes of water its because of iradiation I suppose you can see this as a positive. However - those of us with experience or from Italy, Netherlands or (last five years - Germany), they have fresh fruit and veg, it is tasty, it isn't irradiated but amazingly, it is not rotten either. In Germany the food will often last about 2 or 3 times as long as Swiss food before it rots (yes, a whole five-to-seven days).
Once again, at least the two major supermarkets in CH buy fruit and veg past its best (or too late to be at its best) and push this onto the discerning Swiss consumer who is lead to believe, through their mindset and advertising that they are getting quality. It would appear a few people here are also convinced... oh, to be more local than the locals..
I suspect, if you are talking about food, you are not talking about ZH?
THIS IS FINE BUT OTHER COUNTRIES DON'T ROUTINELY IRRADIATE THEIR FOOD AND STILL IT DOESN'T GO OFF IN THE STORE / TEN MINUTES AFTER YOU HAVE PAID FOR IT..
No need to shout, we can hear you.
If you don't like the quality speak with your wallet and shop somewhere else. We buy fresh produce from the local sources and never had a problem with it going off after "10 minutes".
There is undoubtedly a balance that needs to be found, however we are definitely not at that balancing point with the current standard of Migros and Coop fruit and Veg.
Mr Happy: I suppose your handle/id was chosen before you moved to CH? It makes me sort of sad that so many aspects of Switzerland make you so disgruntled (and you're even shouting now) and there doesn't seem to be much to do about it except wait for another relocation.
I agree, the problem however, is that, for example, sweet potatoes don't grow in Switzerland. So farmers markets etc are no good. Ditto - I believe - aubergines (egg plant) and a ton of other stuff. Speaking personally, I shop in DE or AT when I can and pick up veg then but I'd rather COOP and Migros actually bought decent food for us..
You cannot be serious with this one - fresh Swiss bread generally is amongst the best you will find anywhere (Aldi bread doesn't count as Swiss IMHO). Just had a family of Scots staying and the last thing they did was to raid Migros for 3 or 4 Kg of the stuff to take back with them.
I have to agree with Mr Happy.
I'm lucky though as I live only a minutes walk from the Coop, si I can buy fruit and veg on a daily basis but it is a pain having to shop everyday!
I would guess that this is more to do with the higher % of foreigners bringing their own tastes and cultures into the country. It's the same in the UK, a huge variety of foreign restaurants.
In conventional farming, synthetic fertilisers make the plant absorb a maximum amount of water in minimum time, often resulting in large but tasteless fruit. I don't think it has anything to do with irradiating the produce.
Bread in Aldi (Suisse) is the same as in Migros or Coop - baked by the same Swiss bakeries with the same ingredients.
Bread (if you can call it that) in Aldi Germany SUCKS.
peter
Whilst I would say taste is a different subject (I did say fruit and veg - fresh). I would argue that some Swiss bread is excellent, a load I got in Disentis was amazing, likewise the bacon bits in the funny shaped round loaf is quite nice (read - bad for you). But the prize for the best bread in the world has to go to the french. This gives me no pleasure as I am English but fairs fair.
Gipfeli - yuck. Croissant - yumm.
Well, Croissants aren't bread. French bread is the same white-dough glop as the stuff they sell as "bread" in the UK or in the US. There's baguette which is ok but no healthier than white toast.
I agree - French croissants can be very tasty. Fresh Swiss Laugengipfel can be extremely good, too, though.
peter
I'm really pleased the croissants in France are 'better' than even the marvellous one's mentioned in another thread on this topic.
I'm glad to be 'limited' in my choice of mega-fresh products of every variety; even when shopping in organic stores / small independents, I shy away from food flown from Chile, Kenya, Iran. (Oh ok, I like Iranian pomegranites Mangos from Pakistan are pretty fragrant too, but it ain't right buying them...).
Guinness in Zurich can never be Guinness in Dublin, and that's the point.
How on Earth can we expect to have Fresh! fresh products from all points on the compass when they have to travel so far and still be tasty and last more than a few days?
= only if we're prepared to pay for them.
Anyone prepared to pay more for their food?
We oughtta, but we won't. The consumers are to blame for not wanting to pay real prices. Look to the UK and how Te$co have completely wiped out the independent market and resultingly fair deals for the producers and farmers. (Any idea how much the Chilean wine grower makes on that bottle of Sauvignon?) Choice is a luxury.
I totally agree. The blind assumption that a product must be of a higher quality purely because of the Swiss flag seems to be embedded within the culture.
...or it makes it at-a-glance easy to see the stuff that's not come halfway around the world if you are trying to reduce your carbon footprint.
I totally agree, it's getting out of hand. But that's what happens when large corporations decide on where to grow the produce that we eat based on how cost effective it is.
I think that you have this the wrong way round. Te$co and the like are ruthless when it comes to their pricing strategy. They decide on a particular product that they would like to sell and they name the price. The suppliers then have to deliver at that price. The consumer will naturally go for the cheapest option but it's the large retailers that are causing the price wars. As a result, the consumer expects things to be cheaper.
Ah but we are discussing the quality of the produce not the Carbon Footprint of getting it on to your table. That's a whole different topic which I happen to agree with by the way.
It may seem like a rather stupid question Mr Happy, but where are you storing your fruit and veg?
I can't comment on Migros (as I hate the place) but I find the quality of Coops fruit and veg to be superiour to that in the UK. Storing it in the fridge, or cool cupboard keeps it fresh for 1 week, possibly more. I have never had a problem with mould.
Maybe you should have a look at other branches to see if its just your local store that has the problem.;-)