Topics

Mar

Different Cultures Share a Supermarket Dream

by Meredith Mullins on March 6, 2017

Man with shopping cart at La Louve, the new Paris food co-op that unites different cultures. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

La Louve: A new Paris food co-op is born from a cross-cultural dream.
© Meredith Mullins

La Louve: A Paris Food Co-op Innovation

You wouldn’t expect a supermarket to grab newspaper headlines. But La Louve, a new food co-op in Paris, has been doing just that.

What makes it newsworthy? It’s the first cooperative supermarket in Paris—a social experiment where members are responsible for the direction and daily functioning of the enterprise.

It has the added unique quality of being modeled after an American food co-op and creatively sculpted to work in France. An intriguing blend of different cultures. Read more...

Meredith Mullins Comments

Crossing Cultures/France/USA

Dec

You Say Potato . . . I Say Pomme de Terre

by Meredith Mullins on December 12, 2016

Potatoes on French market shelves, showing the cultural heritage of the potato in France. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

Potatoes taking their rightful place on French market shelves
© Meredith Mullins

How France’s Parmentier Changed the Cultural Heritage of the Potato

Imagine . . .

a world without mountains of crispy French fries,

a holiday dinner minus fluffy clouds of mashed potatoes,

a steak without a baked potato dripping with sour cream,

a plate begging for a huddle of new potatoes with a hint of parsley and butter that launches pomme de terre into the strata of haute cuisine,

silence instead of the crunch of a potato chip while watching a ball game. Read more...

Meredith Mullins 7 Comments

Cultural Heritage & Traditions/France

Apr

Travel Stories: Good Thing We Took the Wrong Train

by Joyce McGreevy on April 26, 2016

A view from a flight departing Boston might feature in travel stories about travel mishaps that turn out just fine. Image © Joyce McGreevy

Travel Mishaps, Mosaics, and Memories

If two trains travel toward the same station at different times . . . Remember those math questions from school? Call them my least favorite travel stories.

I recall Mrs. Newton asking our fourth grade class to brainstorm solutions. As the collective desperation mounted, I burst out with “Agh! Stop the trains!”

Okay, so not a mathematician.

Yet those equations proved instructive. As emblems of bewilderment in motion, they offered a preview of real-life travel problems. Read more...

Joyce McGreevy 1 Comment

Art of Travel/France/Ireland/Italy

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