The white rim / Apicius' epigones: Where to shop in Edinburgh (part one)

Four years ago, when I undertook my Erasmus, I used to live in Warrender Park Road – a semi-affluent area of Edinburgh, tangential to the Meadows, close to Brunsfield road with its cinemas and cafes, and Morningside with its elegance. I felt – just a little bit - like the main character of L’Auberge Espanole [The Spanish apartment] (2002), a delicious film with a very young Audrey Tautou:

English trailer

And several years after, I discovered that also Kelly Rilley was acting in this European film. She is the same Kelly Rilley that - once grown up - played Watson’s loves interest in the second Sherlock Holmes with Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law, as co-protagonists:

Kelly Rilley in a thrilling V-cut blue gown

at the European Premiere of the new

Sherlock Holmes' movie, A game of shadows, in London's Leicester Square.

12/12/2011.

Robert Downey Jr, Jude Law and Kelly Reilly in an hilarious clip

from the film directed by Guy Ritchie.

Mary & Watson

An enchanting close-up of Kelly Reilly's countenances

I wasn’t that lucky, my dorm hosted only boys, alas! I was younger, Edinburg was my first experience out of my parents’ home, and I never actually had the chance to reason (philosophically) about shopping. Shopping was for me a promenade with my family into a food hall. Although I have never been a compulsive buyer, the relation between an item and its cost merely suffered an aesthetical and hedonistic co-dependence. The price was in the 90% of cases non-influential: whether exotic chocolates for instance or Tuscan red wines or some super-selected biscuits, they were all understandable titbits. It was more important the value than the price, the excuse worthier than the need, the quality superior to the quantity. My father was actually pleased, because my a-logical pattern of choice, allowed him to experiment products he had never thought about. And I was also the scapegoat if the bill raised too high peaks:

How my trolly would have appeared in Italy!

In Italy, in particular in Emilia-Romagna,
I showed a "compulsive interest" for this company,
Coop. It offers under this brand "Fior fiore" (the best choice)
a selection of the best Italian food culture.
Their motto is "La coop sei tu" (You are the coop),
as if they could chose exactly what you desire!
Albeit my enthusiasm,
it is not entirely free from blame, sine you may find palm oil among
the ingredients, which is not acceptable:
http://www.e-coop.it/portalWeb/portale/index.jsp

Hazelnuts covered in dark chocolate...
...one after another they will fall into the pit
of stylish voraciousness.

So, when I came to fair Edinburgh the scene changed! I had a budget of 100£ per month and I had to re-create workable parameters to deal with the new environment. How do you map your new reality? Should you take decisions beforehand, using Italian prejudice on British food as a compass? Some of my friends - surprisingly the majority of these friends were women – opted for Lidl in Nicholson Street, because it was a known brand in Italy and ABOVE ALL, the internal structure of Lidl resembles a snake (and it is impossible to get lost among the shelves). I was shocked by this approach because it showed a sort of derogatory syllogism: “I need to eat, Lidl is easier and somehow cheaper, Lidl is the best option”. Setting the convenience above everything else often can be read as a misperception of reality:

The Lidl message is: more at less

My approach was vaguely more enthusiastic. Lidl actually sells some interesting goods, but one cannot rely on it as the only option: I merely deny the idea of eating because of the natural insurgence of hunger, so I allow myself some experiments. Finally, I normally wish to understand how the British people themselves addressed the problem. This former loom has to be considered in a different post: here I can solely anticipate that the social class to which each individual belongs might severely affect one’s shopping choice. Food-education then matters and I have been often accused to be slightly choosy:

I cannot cope with myself: when I do my shopping,
the monocle comes automatically out!

Near to my dwelling place, there was Margiotta, which exhibits more than a few Italian delicatessens, yet it appeared too expensive for an everyday shopping, even with the student discount. Only my American flatmate’s laziness allowed him to shop there continuously, especially because his diet consisted in beer and pizza. Down the road there was Scotmid - which now merged into the Co-operarive -that is fine, but too small at the same time: the Co-operative target is that of having a preference for Scottish products. Such a marketing option is deserving, but often it is not competitive, so the buyer is lead to shop there on ideological bases. Peckhams and Victor Hugo (like Valvona & Crolla in Leith walk) are food boutiques and I prefer to consider them as places where to buy gifts or random specific items. The fifth option was going here and there in the grocery shops nearby, some of them excellent for fish and bread, yet is was dispersive and - when you have to study - TIME is your worst ally. Why then I appointed Tesco then? (My) Ignorance, (a logistic) convenience, and (the company) philosophy are the answers, I will try to exploit this triadic sentence in the following post: