In my capacity as a wooly middle class liberal, I avoid Starbucks. That is, I avoid it when I know there's a better alternative. It happens that Sheffield's top three are Bragazzi's, #9 Cafe in Nether Edge , and Tamper in town. Now it also happens to be the case that these are independent concerns. Small scale, independent, and that greatest of modern shibboleths, local; whatever that means. A lot of the time however, there is no alternative, no better alternative, and that's what matters. If Jimmy Mc Sheffield's ultra sustainable, ethically sourced, uber local vibrant diversity coffee tasted like rat's piss, then I'd go to the Starbucks next door. Perhaps the only gastro-cultural American import of any worth to come our way in the last half century, has been the rise of coffee shops, which has for the most part meant chains.
Our short memories need spurring a little to remember what it was like before what Derren Brown has called the 'Starbucks revolution'. In the Maxwell House years, coffee meant a sort of watery bitter concoction that developed its intriguing taste complexity from having been kept warm on the filter machine for the best part of the day. We may not like the power that large scale chain food and beverage operations wield, but in areas where our lives have been enhanced by them, we should have the honesty to say so.
The truth of course, is never pure and rarely simple. Take for instance, the unspeakable Greggs. In the last half-decade this purveyor of factory farmed, industrial, bargain bullshit has dropped outlets like a scattershot of peptic ulcers that offend the eyes nose and stomach. Their runaway success is down to the collusion of exploiting the British appetite for bargains and their commensurate antipathy to quality. Who cares if it tastes like crap? It's cheap as chips and means I can still afford ten pints of Stella. In a recent article, Will Self made a comparison with what he called the French answer to Greggs.
You may have sampled their wares. If you've been down that London, he chances are high you've come across a Paul. According to their website, their success is due to 'one family’s love of good food and passionate commitment to the best traditional baking methods over more than 100 years'. If I have to hear about yet another chef\baker\cafe\artisan sandwich designer who has 'passion' my tendency is to beat my head repeatedly against the wall. In the case of Paul however, it is all true. Your local Paul may not be the best boulangerie in the town, but only if there is some seriously stiff competition. If we got one in Sheffield, it would face stiff competition from the likes of Forge Bakehouse or Seven Hills Bakery.
The tide of progress will not roll this far north though, not, I suspect, in my lifetime. If some sort of French invasion meant that there would be a hostile takeover whereby every Greggs became a Paul, I would be he first one out there saluting as the enemy tanks roll in. Why is it that France has succumbed to chain bakeries and sandwich shops but still eats so well? (I know this is a generalisation and here is much bad food and cooking out there). We have been told for years now that supermarkets have killed off small retailers because they are massive and convenient, but I suspect that the public must shoulder some of the responsibility for our unquestioning acceptance of mediocrity. French supermarkets, such as the Carrefour chain, are super-massive; they are hyper-markets. And they are wonderful. Far from killing off local artisanal food production and quality produce, they are rammed full of quality gear that makes even our most illustrious 'farmers market' seem like a squalid joke. So if the hostile invasion can also drop a massive Carrefour on the knackered remnants of what used to be Sheffield's so called 'city centre', then yes please, and thankyou very much. I'm all for things that are local, small scale, independent, but only if they are also very good at what they do. The mistake of 'foodie' culture is often that it doesn't ask the most important question first, and that is 'is it any good?'.
