Anna Mckay shares a recipe perfect for celebrating Chinese New Year
Laura Reynolds reviews the latest arrival to the York cafe scene
Anna Mckay tempts us to break the new year healthy eating streak.
Just 4 days until Christmas..get in the mood with some festive nosh!
Since Heyman began working at Alligator, in 1988, he has seen the organic food industry rapidly expand, ironically at the expense of his independent store: “[Alligator is] peripheral to the world of food. Nowadays, if you’re in your twenties and setting up for the first time, all you know is supermarket shopping, because that’s what you did with your parents. Most people buy their organic goods from supermarkets.” Heyman explains that Alligator’s “bottom line is not economic,” but a local Sainsbury’s nearby, in combination with other supermarket chains in York, mean he can barely stay afloat. He notes that “the only way to make money out of [the organic food trade] is to do stuff on a grand scale.”
The origins of the organic industry are in responsible, environmentally friendly food production, but Heyman says this is increasingly being left behind in favour of economic motives. He compares modern mechanised ‘organic’ producers to “factory production lines,” and criticises farm shops who strive to “give the impression they grow the stuff themselves.”
In one of many monologues, punctuated with wry smiles and knowing expressions, Heyman explains the difficulties of deciding whether organic food produced in other countries is more or less responsible than inorganic food produced locally. Although his calculations have yet to yield a definitive answer to that question, he nonetheless prides himself on the fact that “Alligator customers don’t have to read the labels to check what they’re buying.” However, he laments that most people “either kid themselves or just don’t realise” that supermarket mass-produced, largely imported, barely organic goods are equally responsible to the produce he sells.
The sad thing about Alligator is what it reveals about intergenerational shopping habits. As time passes, its significance and relevance to the local community is fading. It just doesn’t fit in any more. It hasn’t got an identity; struggling to stay organic and struggling to stay profitable. The ‘faceless corporation’ in the community now bears more relevance and familiarity to most people than the local green grocers – and, if you ask me, this is a distinctly unpleasant thought.
Good job, always good to know there are places like this dotted around.
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