We built http://www.attmatr.com with a similar philosophy. The difference is we strive to actually be farm-to-table as we deliver to the customer's doorstep - and our platform caters to B2B too. We're only in Denmark at the moment but will soon expand abroad.
La Ruche qui dit Oui
21–30 of 34 posts
Re: La Ruche qui dit Oui
#22Is the name a play on "La vache qui rit"?
Actually the producer can set a minimum revenue under which it's not profitable for him (then he doesn't have to deliver). When the minimum is reached, the Ruche says "yes" to the producer -> thus the name :)
For french speaking people, this video explain it: https://vimeo.com/17644285
Re: La Ruche qui dit Oui
#23In France there is the AMAP association ( http://www.reseau-amap.org/ ) which shares some of the same goals, but for non-profit and with a focus on organic products.
The AMAPs are subscription based, and you get a box (panier) with whatever the farmer happens to have this particular week.
Here you can actually order things.
In the case of AMAPs, the nice thing about not knowing what you'll receive in advance is that it forces you to learn a certain number of recipes so you'll be able to cook whatever you get.
Re: La Ruche qui dit Oui
#24I just tried it, the whole process is a bit confusing. There's no store/location ("assembly") in my city (Germany), but my s/o lives in a somewhat more hip city which has a few. To get any details for any individual assembly -- including finding out what's for sale! -- you need to register (full name, password and email). After registering, you still need to "join" each assembly individually before you see any goods,…
The assembly thing is indeed annoying, they did it this way because it's a franchise model. Anyone can request to open an assembly in their area, providing they fit the criterias. You're in charge of contacting farmers and animating the assembly, and you split the profits with La Ruche Qui Dit Oui.
Since I'm living in Paris, I have one quite close to my place, with plenty of choice. Prices are expensive compared to normal groceries, but veggies are mostly organics and the price is on par or cheaper compared to normal organic seller. The taste is great, it's better than most farmer's market and much better than the usual groceries. Can't eat that everyday because of the price though!
Re: La Ruche qui dit Oui
#25I just tried it, the whole process is a bit confusing. There's no store/location ("assembly") in my city (Germany), but my s/o lives in a somewhat more hip city which has a few. To get any details for any individual assembly -- including finding out what's for sale! -- you need to register (full name, password and email). After registering, you still need to "join" each assembly individually before you see any goods,…
I use La Ruche in Lyon, France. They have several assembly locations across the city. I think it is more expensive that usual market but I suppose it is worth it. For example, a 1.4kg chicken is about 14€. In the market I would buy it for 9 or 10€, so it is not that overpriced, considering that the La Rouche chicken, supposedly, saw some sun's light in its lifetime.
I may seem not very convinced, but I do like it. Each Thursday I go and get my stuff, taste some local brewery beer and chit-chat with the producers. Oh and the bread from the bread lady is awesome. Full disclosure: My girlfriend started all the let's buy La Ruche and Marechal-Fraicheur stuff... I don't think I would have done it by myself.
Re: La Ruche qui dit Oui
#26In France there is the AMAP association ( http://www.reseau-amap.org/ ) which shares some of the same goals, but for non-profit and with a focus on organic products.
The AMAPs are subscription based, and you get a box (panier) with whatever the farmer happens to have this particular week. Here you can actually order things. In the case of AMAPs, the nice thing about not knowing what you'll receive in advance is that it forces you to learn a certain number of recipes so you'll be able to cook whatever you get.
We are part of a similar subscription based system here in Belgium. Prices are somewhere between supermarket normal and organic. Mostly local, but some stuff is shipped in when the local crops really suck. Indeed forces you to learn to cook and enjoy whatever weird stuff happens to be growing well locally. This results in less effort deciding what to buy, but more effort figuring out what to do with whatever you received. I really don't think giving consumers ~more choice is going to help solve the problem of getting people to eat whatever is growing locally.
Re: La Ruche qui dit Oui
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'd assume not -- because la vache qui rit is sort of the French version of American cheese (a factory-produced cheese-based product, not an actual cheese), so it's not really the sort of thing they'd want to be associated with. The name is ringing a vague bell -- maybe there's a childrens' story about a talking hive? No idea, but a quick google didn't find the answer either, so I can't say for sure.
Most French people love La Vache qui Rit. They don't eat it as adults but it revives memories of their school trip lunches.
Sure; it's not considered an evil thing generally; it's just that the subculture of people who go out of their way and pay more to get organic/local/etc. generally aren't eating much of it: they're paying more for the AOC-certified, locally-produced real cheese.
They're also (in my experience) buying a ton of homeopathic remedies for just about everything, which I have trouble not rolling my eyes about, but that's another subject.
Re: La Ruche qui dit Oui
#28Earlier quoted context omitted.
He's not saying that variations of "a marketplace that connects farmers to people who want farm fresh food" doesn't exist. He's saying that this mythical utopia where everybody ate locally-produced, high-quality, healthy food didn't exist.
I don't know, I wouldn't say the downsides of the old ways were that the food was non-local, low quality, or unhealthy. A lot of the food regulations were necessary because when you try to do things on a large scale you run into quality and health problems. The downsides are more like people ate way less meat because it was too expensive, there was much less international variety, and there were a lot more farmers, l…
The main point you're missing is that people were tied to local produce. Cold snap during summer? Potato blight? Sorry, you're going to starve. Even when the harvest came through, staying healthy through the winter and spring was a major problem, with all sorts of vitamin deficiency diseases like scurvy, beriberi, pellagra and rickets endemic.
Re: La Ruche qui dit Oui
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
The AMAPs are subscription based, and you get a box (panier) with whatever the farmer happens to have this particular week. Here you can actually order things. In the case of AMAPs, the nice thing about not knowing what you'll receive in advance is that it forces you to learn a certain number of recipes so you'll be able to cook whatever you get.
We are part of a similar subscription based system here in Belgium. Prices are somewhere between supermarket normal and organic. Mostly local, but some stuff is shipped in when the local crops really suck. Indeed forces you to learn to cook and enjoy whatever weird stuff happens to be growing well locally. This results in less effort deciding what to buy, but more effort figuring out what to do with whatever you rece…
I used to live in Grenoble, and some local AMAPs offered some cooking classes. You could choose to take your basket to a kitchen and people helped you with cooking and canning your vegetables. It takes a little more involvement from the consumer but then they only have to reheat what they've cooked, and they don't have to consume their weekly basket immediately.
Re: La Ruche qui dit Oui
#30Summary: this is something akin to a farmers market with pre-orders. Consumers order local produce, farmers and consumers all arrive at a pre-determined location and time for delivery, and farmers keep most of the money (with a small cut going to the location owners, and a cut going to the company that handles all the market-making/financial transactions.) At present, this exists only in Europe, but it sounds like a…
No need. CSAs have existed throughout the US for a long time. Wrapping them under a single brand and adding in a middle man to handle the transactions doesn't really add value to the consumer.
I hadn't heard the term "CSA" before. Interesting.