Superquinn name change - what about the bread?

I read today that SuperValue will finally drop the Superquinn name and rebrand the stores. This was a while in the works I reckon, but is still a bit of a worry. The crown jewels for SQ has always been the bread. Some people go on about the sausages, but they are not the best thing about SQ for me.

I never understood why someone else could not make a good sausage. All the butchers in the country could not beat a supermarket. Bizarre.

Bread on the other hand is a big deal. Irish bread has traditionally been white sliced rubbish. A variety of brands selling the same muck under different names. SQ was different. They had an attitude to bread that made it seem like it mattered. I have tried to find good bread in Dublin before. And have had a hard time of it. There is a bakery near my house, but the bread is no good. I don't know why they bother other than that the shop is already rented. So if you like good bread make sure to buy some in SuperQuinn. We are probably safe though - Musgraves are not going to lower the quality on this without turning a lot of their customers away.

The bottom end of the market is getting crowded in Ireland so the only place for a retailer to go is up.

Artificial Meat

Today the first artificial meat was eaten by humans. The project was paid for by Sergei Brin of Google fame. The idea is to find an alternative to 'naturally' produced meat that avoids the cruelty of factory farming. This seems like a long distance and expense to go when greater strides can be made by reducing the amount of meat that most people consume. This video I think is right on the money. Find ways for most people to eat less meat. This involves teaching people how to cook better vegetarian food - leaving the meat off a plate of meat, veg and starch does not do the job. I also think it is a lot easier to ask people to have a few meat free days per week rather than convince a few to give up meat altogether. Ideology aside the goal should be to reduce the total amount of meat produced and consumed in the world. Doing that by culturing stem cells from a cow seems to way overshoot into the realms of technology rather than plain old home economics.
I have been trying to eat less meat over the last few years and it has gone pretty well. As you can see from these blog entries though I do still eat meat. Quite a bit of it, but a lot less than most Irish people. I think I will stick with this path for now rather than try to 'go veg' completely.

Butler's Coffee in the Swords Pavillion Shopping Centre

Its just a cup of coffee and a chocolate, but considering how many coffee shops mess this up its worth pointing out someone who is getting it right. The walnut ganache chocolate - which is one of the ones that you can pick with your coffee is delicious. Creamy and sweet with plenty of walnut flavour. It is also a big sweet. Plenty for elevenses with a nice cup of coffee. Butlers have been doing this for years and they just keep getting better. Managed to resist putting an outlet on every corner during the boom and are still here - for the long run we hope.