Food and gastronomy
The challenge of “February without supermarket” is back in Belgium for the second time.
Spending the entire month of February without setting foot in a supermarket is the challenge that comes back for the second year in a row in our flat country. Holding a challenge for a whole month, even in February, is a long time. And yet, last year, thousands of Belgians attempted the adventure. So much so that some small businesses have seen their sales increase. A year ago, we tried to spend the whole month of February without going into a supermarket. After ten days, we had failed. But ultimately, the goal of the operation is not so much to boycott the supermarkets as to support small independent traders. Even if we crack from time to time, the important thing is to start.
A matter of time
Launched in Switzerland in 2017 by the collective En vert et contre tout, the challenge of “February without supermarket” made its way into Belgium last year via Jean-Christophe Caron and his Facebook pages “Vivons bien, vivons belge” and “Brussels without supermarket”. “The goal is to relearn how to go back to simpler things: drugstores, bookstores, bakeries. While supermarkets tend to take over bakeries, bookstores “, he explains. At the expense of small independent businesses that struggle daily. What he imagines, when he speaks of “February without a supermarket”, are citizens who meet in their neighborhood, discuss, meet and relearn how to do things themselves. Although it is not essential to start doing your laundry and your deodorant yourself to succeed this month’s challenge.
Read also> In February, what if we deserted the supermarkets?
But spending your Saturday going to the bakery, butcher, market, and grocery store can put off more than one. A matter of taste, first. “I hate the markets”. And time, then. “People think they don’t have time to do this. But I say that you just have to take the time. Get back on the road. We are in a vicious circle where we are always in front of our television or smartphone. It’s hard to give up on them a bit and change your habits. It’s not that you don’t have time, it’s that you have to choose to spend it on something else “.
Among the apologies received for preferring large surfaces to small traders: prices. “When you look at the price of meat per kilo in a supermarket, you realize that it is often cheaper in a butcher shop. We don’t spend more money, that’s wrong. In addition, we are not tempted by a lot of things that we do not need. We throw less, because we buy less and the products are better and we spend less money on nonsense “, says Jean-Christophe Caron. On this point, the participants in the previous challenges, in Belgium but also in Switzerland or in France, seem to agree. ” Numerous testimonies from participants in the first challenges ensure that they spent less and better. Indeed, by replacing the disposable with sustainable, by not giving in to the marketing of large retailers, but also by breaking the cliché that only supermarkets practice affordable prices, we realize that ecology often rhymes with economy “, says the Swiss collective.
Start small
For the most motivated who wish to test the adventure, there are several things to know. First of all, it doesn’t matter if you break the rule. You will not go to hell if, like us, you have cracked a ready-made salad on your lunch time. The main thing is to put things in place to make your life easier and to put all the chances on your side to no longer succumb to the temptation. Or less, anyway. Then you don’t have to have a total boycott! “To call the challenge” February by promoting independent businesses and supporting small farms “was too long. The main thing is to support the short circuit to the best of its ability and where it lives. It’s true that in some areas there’s almost nothing left but the big names. At that point, you can imagine having a basket delivered by local producers or simply having your coffee in the local bistro rather than taking it from the work distributor. It’s a small contribution, but if there is a lot to do, it has its effect“, Advises In green and against everything. And they are right. If this February makes it your habit to buy your bread from your baker rather than from a supermarket, then this is a win.
“I also recommend joining groups on social networks. People are kind, we feel less alone, we can receive advice and people are very responsive to answer questions. ”, recommends Jean-Christophe, who recalls that his page lists a maximum of independent businesses, region by region. For him, supermarkets, organic or local as they are, should be avoided. “When apples come from abroad, you have to ask yourself questions”. But he admits, however, that this is an easy first step. Besides, it’s always better to buy your vegetables in a small organic and Belgian supermarket than in a large international chain. “There are a lot of positive points to abandoning big box stores. We have less stress, we develop human relationships, it’s more friendly to go to your baker and have a nice word. We develop the circular economy, we put people to work, and we respect the environment ”. So, ready for the challenge?
Large brands have smelled the vein
Last year, while the smallest traders claimed to have seen a positive impact on their turnover during the month of February, the big chains like Carrefour maintained that they had not seen any difference in the frequentation of their stores. In any case, this is what they said on the antennas of the RTBF, during a review of this first edition. Still, these same big brands are putting in place a lot of measures to go in the direction of ecological claims. For three years now, it has been possible to use its reusable containers at Carrefour, which claims, at the same time, to support local producers. The lines are therefore moving, but will they go far enough to convince citizens in need of human relations, of a truly effective ecological policy and of a return to natural products? In the meantime, we have as answers the local shops which already offer all this at the same time.
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