Archive for the ‘railway’ category
-
The Camembert legend (2)
Friday, August 14th, 2009
Endorsed by the Emperor himself, Camembert could hardly fail to take Paris by storm, as well as many provincial capitals. There was a very real result from these early travels: originally wrapped simply in paper, it rapidly became clear that something more substantial was needed to protect the ripening cheeses on their journey.In the 1890s, [...]
-
The Camembert legend (1)
Thursday, August 13th, 2009
There are many legends that date back to the French revolution. However, few are as persistent as the story of Marie Harel and the origins of Camembert cheese.In 1791, religion was excised from the French state and priests were banned. Farmer’s wife Marie Harel sheltered a fugitive priest from Brie, even if she did not [...]
-
Visits build knowledge and confidence
Monday, May 25th, 2009
Henri Babeur was quick to build the confidence of customers by inviting them to visit Isigny sur Mer. Whatever the Paris crémier was to tell Parisian customers needed to be based on the cremier’s own observations to be credible. Working with Georges Picou, the Parisian wholesale trader, Babeur organised a special train and cars to [...]
-
How Danish ideas shaped the Model Dairy
Thursday, May 21st, 2009
When Louis Dupont set up his dairy cooperative in 1905, he applied the lessons he had learnt in Denmark, where he had visited dairy cooperative some years previously to understand what the Scandinavians were doing.
-
Railways spread English appetite for butter
Tuesday, May 12th, 2009
When provision merchant John Sainsbury set up shop in London’s Drury Lane, he built his business with the slogan: “The best butter in London”. His best butters came from Normandy and were a valued part of the business for years to come. Normandy butter was on show at London’s first Universal Exhibition in 1867, where [...]
-
How steam shifted French food output
Sunday, May 3rd, 2009
Long before grain started arriving in France from the New World, steam had already transformed the way in which goods, particularly food, were being traded around France. The arrival of the railways
-
How steam changed European agriculture
Saturday, April 18th, 2009
European agriculture was transformed in the last two decades of the 19th century, when cheap grain from the new world started to arrive from Canada, the US and Argentina. This sea change came about when north American railways finally reached the ports and started to deliver steam shiploads of prairy wheat to the docksides. Thanks [...]
