SHINING A LIGHT...
Shining a light on all that is delicious, seasonal, regional and terroir driven whether at home or further afield.
This year, more than ever, has been very time consuming, procuring products to come from the EU. Not only is the expense enormous but getting the small producers to work with us and fill in all the forms to enable their products to be sold outside of the EU. Many of the products we so love to sell are from a tiny producers and they often are not seen outside of their region. In pre-Brexit days it was easy and free-flowing but now the costs - which are our burden - make it so much harder. We decided to not give up or give in, as these wonderful delicacies are so loved during the festive season, it was a pity not to have them in the shops.
Our amazing team at LA FROMAGERIE have worked tirelessly over the last few months, jumping through many hoops in order to get some of the very artisan cheeses from Spain and Sicily, BUT they have finally arrived after months of wading through the quagmire of paperwork and red tape. It's become a David and Goliath exercise, and we hope that it will get easier next year, but who knows....
All we can say is that we can delight in bringing to our shops and online some of the greatest cheeses in the world. Many of our cheesemakers rarely go outside of their region and take a great deal of pride knowing that their cheese is seen in a major city in the world , together with cured meats, wine, confectionery, patisserie and condiments to enjoy over the festive period and beyond.
But that has been the ethos of LA FROMAGERIE right from the start ... before Euro... before Brexit.... before inexhaustible bureaucracy. Memories of bringing back products in a large suitcase seem like a lifetime ago; well it was 33 years so maybe nearly a lifetime...