Cultural differences

While we are here, my lovely huge baby boy is turning (just turned, actually) 6 months. So we will be getting his 6-month vaccine here (not yet done), and starting him on solid food (already begun).

Let me just interject, here, that Collioure is a very small and very touristy town. We are glad to be here in the down season, and have been told by residents that this is indeed a good choice. The many shops are all starting to come to life, with renos, painting and cleaning going on everywhere. So we get a glimpse of the varied souvenirs and knick-knacks that will be available on every corner. But as far as regular useful stores, there's a definite dearth. One grocery store that is by no means huge, one very small grocery store, two pharmacies, 3 or 4 boulangeries (but only one consistently open), one boucherie-charcuterie, one very small librairie (that's bookstore to you anglos), one bibliothèque (that's the library). No quincaillerie, no papeterie, no clothing store and definitely no underclothes.

Our grocery store, though, does have wine ranging in price from €1.61 per bottle (that's about CA$2.70) to... well, up. But as for baby food. Well it turns out that all baby food in our well-supplied-with-cheap-wine town has either chocolate, if it's a dessert-type, or meat, if it's savoury. Or other things. The "green beans" jar contains potato starch, corn starch, skim milk solids. And the healthier brand of green beans contains veal.

With our first child, we painstakingly made all our own purées from organic veggies and froze them in little cubes. And we would have the time to do so again... but not the equipment. We did find one jar that is just apples; and one that is just pears. And we did manage to mash our own carrots (and the way he went at the fruit, he probably won't mind if the texture of the carrots isn't quite as velvety).

I have almost given up reading ingredients. The market produce (available twice weekly) is mostly local or from not too far away and tastes amazing. I am not a gourmet cook but I recommend the place to anyone who is. And the packaged desserts and biscuits are divine. Fromage frais, which is a very-high-fat amazing-tasting yogourt, has become a staple in our house. And the above-mentioned eldest son (4 years old) has probably eaten more chocolate in the three weeks we've been here than in his entire life previously. He gets chocolate milk most days at school for snack. And yes, the baby, who is still nursing, is also getting his fair share of aforementioned red wine.

So I am slowly learning to sit back and enjoy. Just going by taste, I think everything I have consumed so far is superior here (with the exception of beer... but who need it with everything else?). So why wreck a good thing by reading labels?