The best you cook this week – Salvation
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Editorial: Double the trash can penalty
The story takes place between a dog and a wolf in Paris. Three silhouettes are busy going through trash cans in front of a sign claiming to be anti-waste food. Two women and a man hand them two carrots and an apple: “See, they are flawless.” Shows mixed salad that has expired one day. “Here, take them, they are very good”, suggest. This person estimates his daily budget for food at 5 euros. “Because I am sick, I have lunch in the canteen of the hospital where I am being treated.” He points to his silent neighbor, who dips his hands into the tall green trash cans: “She is a widow with three children.” Another woman explains it to us “He comes here two or three times a week.”
It is not the first time that we witness such scenes. We know pickers and hoarders who make the bottom of crates at the end of the market or get a plate of pitted, over-ripe vegetables and fruit for a token euro. No, but tonight the story of the trash cans has us a little more excited than usual. Perhaps the chorus of soaring prices, the statistics of growing deprivation on the plate, the confidence of the Monoprix guard again tonight: “During the holidays, we ate as usual, we had no opportunity to do more work.”
Back to heating the soup, we read the definition of trash again: “Female name (Eugene René Pubelle, Prefect of the Seine from 1883 to 1896). Container for household waste. Not having the means to eat properly is already too much. Putting your hand in the garbage to eat is a double punishment. Unsupported. The next morning, we return to the grocery store where two workers are preparing to raise the iron curtain. We tell them about yesterday’s scene, we want to understand why they don’t put the unsold food in other places than trash cans like boxes, cardboard boxes, small sheds. The half-suspicious, half-resigned sigh that appears to be the owner: “Because it’s banned, we’ve already been fined for doing it. We have no choice but to protect these fruits and vegetables with plastic and put them on top of the trash can. I also tried to take out the bins in the morning so that the food still had some freshness and people could pick it up sooner. But they told me again that it is forbidden, that I should put the garbage cans on the sidewalk in the evening, since collection is in order. Otherwise, we give our unsold items to the student association, which collects them by car, but because of the increase in the price of gasoline, there is little income.
It’s the story of the rules that haunts us when we come across a municipal policeman snapping a picture of a wild hoard of big stuff on his phone. He confirms the grocer’s statement. A nice but straight-booted officer tells us: “You see, we’ve already seen food fights on the public highway.” He said that for two carrots and three apples, we want to see…
Possible sauce: orange vinaigrette
We are clearly wrong with vinaigrette, which we often limit ourselves to the mustard-vinegar-oil trinity. However, as it proves, there are seasonings for your salads my friends’ salads Rudolph Alexandre and Julien Englebert (1). It is, of course, a beautifully illustrated travel diary full of encounters, stories and salad recipes. We’ve fallen in love with the ‘So British Orange’ to grace our chicory salads. You need 2 tablespoons of squeezed orange juice, 2 tablespoons of olive oil, a few drops of lemon, 1 teaspoon of creamed honey, 1 teaspoon of mustard, 1 teaspoon of white vinegar. Mix everything evenly and sprinkle with your endives.
(1) Ed. Elytis, 2018, €19.90.
Useful trick: an infusion in pumpkin, not stupid
In Séverine Charbonnet and Florence Le Maux’s work dedicated to groceries and everything they can put in them (1), it’s spice lover Beena Paradin who offers this recipe for a homemade infusion to combat the winter chill. Roughly grind 4 cardamom pods and 1 peppercorn in a mortar. Boil 1 liter of water, steep the contents of the solution, as well as a piece of fresh ginger (or 1 spoon of powdered ginger) in this boiling water for five minutes. Strain and refill your bottle. You can also opt for a decoction that helps against colds, according to Beena Paradin, by boiling all the ingredients together for ten minutes. You can keep this decoction in an insulated container and drink it throughout the day.
(1) What pumpkins! + 80 recipes that will please you, ed. Studio book, 2022, 16 euros.
