Just got back from a week on the island of Noirmoutier, off the Atlantic coast of France. Last night, because we’d been avoiding French-style seafood for a week (huitres, moules-frites, fruits de la mer etc.), we decided to have a proper fish supper. Two large cod, two medium, three large chippy-chips. Have a guess how much that lot cost.
Nineteen pounds and five pence.
I can’t complain. It’s been coming for a while. French fishermen have been blockading ports because the price of diesel means they’ve been making no money at all on the fish they catch. So, put the price up then, except it’s not so simple because the fish is sold at auction, and they get the price that is bid.
Which begs the question, if the fishermen are out of pocket because the auction prices aren’t matching the fuel prices, how is a piece of cod costing £4 in the fish and chip shop? I should have had haddock, which I prefer anyway, and which is only £2.90, but I was in a hurry because we all wanted to watch Doctor Who together.
At Super-U, my favourite supermarket, diesel was costing €1.46, which is about £1.15 per litre, a full 15 pence cheaper than it’s costing around Buckingham at the moment.
I don’t know what it is about seafood that repulses me, but it does. Many years ago, in a moment of madness, I tried some moules-frites. Never let it be said that I’m afraid to try. Even longer ago, I once tried to make clam chowder. But both experiences left me nauseated by both taste and texture. I don’t seem to be the only one, because neither my wife nor her brother and his girlfriend were keen to eat seafood, which is hilarious, given that we’d gone on holiday to an island famous for its oysters (and its salt).
Fish! I can only eat it in batter with chips. Otherwise it gives me the willies.
Also, found a dead dolphin on a beach, but didn’t photograph it for reasons of taste.
Filed under: Culture, Family, Flickr, France, Travel, anxiety, being chippy, food, omens and portents, summer , economy, fish, fishermen, fuel crisis, fuel prices, seafood, Supermarkets
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