
December 12, 2019 · 0 Comments
By Constance Scrafield
If you want to take Christine Patton’s fine onion soup home or back to the office, bring your own bowl, glass container or big mug.
“The container has to go into the oven,” the owner of Fromage pointed out about this properly prepared dish. “So, it can’t be in plastic.”
Normally, it is only served in her restaurant, for that very reason.
She had sat down with the Citizen to discuss the whole issue of packaging, the mistakes, the wishes and the pitfalls.
“I attended Grant Peters’ workshop about reducing waste recently,” she told us. “Dufferin County was there, several business owners and he discussed some of the options for packaging and how the county might consider making changes to disposing waste.”
In the next breath, she observed, “One of the things I really don’t like is Sobeys’ pre-packaged vegetables now. So, you’re stuck with the numbers they present, whether they’re too many or not. I like to pick my own produce and buy only what I need. They should just supply mesh bags.”
She recently attended a conference in Ottawa with the BIA and, “I did a tour of my neighbourhood while I was there. There was a shop where you bring your own bags and containers. They had displays with reusable bags. A Bulk Store only has plastic bags and containers.”
Here is part of the problem: in a town she knew, the council wanted to ban single-use plastic bags but, in the same town, there was a factory that made them and employed people to do the work.
“Certainly, there’s confusion around recycling – what goes into the blue box and what is really waste – but how is garbage disposed of? Consumers have the responsibility too,” she was emphatic. “There was a retailers’ conference about educating customers. Companies that sell pre-packaged meals send cards along with them about what gets recycled. But, why is it my responsibility to educate customers about what’s recyclable? Consumers have to take ownership of this.”
While she does not use them yet, there are compostable containers for hot food.
“But they’re expensive,” said Ms. Patton, “because they’re hard to manufacture. Would customers want to spend that 20¢ per container? They’re made of wood – from trees -that’s another problem. It’s better to just bring your own containers and reusable bags.”
She went on to praise some of her customers: “They bring their own beeswax wraps and glass containers.”
Also, “Some Dufferin suppliers brought in bags made of compostable material.”
As an experiment, she was given a bundle of those bags actually labelled “Compostable.” She placed several on the counter in plain view and waited for her customers to ask for them.
“We weren’t charging for them,” was the gist of the story. “we put them out just to see if anybody would ask for one – and nobody did! So, we just use them for the compost bucket to keep it clean.”
Expressing concern about the amount of packaging that shippers use, she outlined their policies: “Even when a box is inside a box shipping things to us, they still pile in huge quantities of Styrofoam or other packaging. They need to reduce that.”
The whole issue of pre made meals was next on the table, so to speak.
“People don’t cook for themselves,” was her concern. “Who would believe that our pre-made meals would be such a big part of our business? People come here and they know that everything is made from scratch but supermarkets have freezers full of pre made meals and they put all sorts of preservatives in them that aren’t any good for you.”
There was some discussion of doing a seminar at the cheese shop with a person who was knowledgeable in the matter of practical containers, but “it didn’t pan out. Sometimes, we have art workshops here in the evenings. That’s really fun.”
“Really,” she began to reflect, “the beginning and the end of it, is in Europe, cheeses sit on an open container, not in refrigeration and there is no plastic wrap around the cheese.
“North America demands that which uses too much energy.”
Now that we know plastic wrap is not the way to go, here is how Christine Patton explains how to keep your cheese: “Keep it in wax paper. If you use saran wrap, put it over the wax paper, so the cheese can breathe and not dry out. I put mine in an open tupperware container in the bottom of my fridge.
“Cheese also freezes well,” she confirmed. “At this time of year when you might want to use raclette cheese, for parties or dinner, you can put what you don’t use in the freezer, in slices. I can slice it here for you, to make the slices even.”
Speaking of taking cheese home, we brought a personal need to her attention and she leaned her elbows in the table, ready to listen and help.
“We have a Beaujolais Nouveau,” we explained, asking in the light of being in the right place, “what cheese would you recommend to go with it? Should be three…”
The wine is red but very light, light bodied.
Here is how we settled it: for both interesting variety and compatibility with the wine and each other: a Port Salute, a Dazabel – lightly smoked sheep’s cheese – and a red Leicester.
To sit by the fireplace and enjoy.