Chop chop - the EU is coming to a butcher near you
EU standards mean Polish meat processors and dairies could face closure.
When speaking to shoppers on the street, most will agree. But so far as quality is concerned, they have no doubts.
"It tastes good, and it is juicy and fresh" is a common response. So if our meat is so good, why will it fall foul of EU standards?
"Our beef can compete with EU standards," said Kasia, a saleswoman who works in a butcher's shop on ul. Nowy Swiat. "But it's not really about complying with European standards of high quality. It's about closing down our domestic firms because our meat is much cheaper than theirs. It's better, and EU countries want to export more of their own to Poland instead of importing ours."
She wasn't alone in her views.
"Poles are traditionalists," said another employee. "They prefer to buy raw meat straight from the counter where they can tell the butcher which part from a big chunk they would like to have it cut."
The choosy customer considers such meat to be fresher than the offerings in supermarkets, which sit delicately on a plastic tray or wrapped in foil. Such covered meat spoils quicker, the experts (and traditionalists) insist. It's why in those little butcher shops they still pack meat in paper since it is thought to retain its freshness and taste longer - the down side being that it will dry out more quickly.
"That's what the EU fails to understand," Kasia said. "For them, I'm quite certain our methods of packing seem to be old-fashioned since the way we cut meat isn't chopped in perfect little pieces like they do in the West, but in big chunks. They don't tolerate the way we do things, and want us out of their way."
Nevertheless, not all butchers were so pessimistic about the EU. Among those was a little shop on ul. Baczyńskiego, called Diplomat. This peculiar name comes from past times when there were shops reserved for foreigners (and party hacks) who could pay for their purchases in dollars. Though in Diplomat, Polish currency was also welcomed, the name gives everything away.
"We had the best meat in the whole city," sighed saleswomen Bożena. "In common shops, meat was available only for special coupons which entitled the purchaser to only 2.5 kilograms per month, and still you received mainly pieces that contained fat. Our shop was a meat paradise. The foreigners used to say that our meat was super, tres bonne or buono. They really enjoyed it." She added that the demand for meat might increase if we enter an EU whose citizens are "connoisseurs" of meat.
"Polish beef is as tasty and good in quality as the beef produced in the EU, plus it is much cheaper," Bożena said. "We are an attractive market."
At bazaars like "Szembeka" in southern Praga, you can buy fresh meat directly from the slaughterhouse. It has not been cut in the proper manner, more like with a two-handed axe.
People still come here and buy our products even though they are in such a very raw form because they are often cheaper then in supermarkets. So why bother chopping it nicely?" said a young girl.
But a smaller stall across the little trottoir had more clients. The meat looked to be placed more neatly, and the price tags were more visible than in the previous one.
"If you don't make an effort to have appropriate products that will appeal to the clients, then you'll have troubles surviving," said the shopkeeper of this stall.
The competition is strong indeed, especially if you are in favour of going to big shopping malls like Carrefour or Geant. There, against the walls, are huge chilled cabinets stacked with meat packed neatly in transparent foil. We may be conservative when it comes to fresh meat, but the hypermarkets cunningly display all their wares appetisingly in one spot, which means that although the meat may not be as tasty as offerings from small shops, it still flies past the check-out girls. That's one-stop shopping for you.
Although there is a certain pessimism concerning an increase in meat prices, as well as widespread shutdowns of abattoirs on the grounds they will not meet EU environmental legislation, there is one thing to be optimistic about. We won't be going back to meat coupons, and so far as this unrepentant carnivore is concerned, this is a really splendid prospect.
When speaking to shoppers on the street, most will agree. But so far as quality is concerned, they have no doubts.
"It tastes good, and it is juicy and fresh" is a common response. So if our meat is so good, why will it fall foul of EU standards?
"Our beef can compete with EU standards," said Kasia, a saleswoman who works in a butcher's shop on ul. Nowy Swiat. "But it's not really about complying with European standards of high quality. It's about closing down our domestic firms because our meat is much cheaper than theirs. It's better, and EU countries want to export more of their own to Poland instead of importing ours."
She wasn't alone in her views.
"Poles are traditionalists," said another employee. "They prefer to buy raw meat straight from the counter where they can tell the butcher which part from a big chunk they would like to have it cut."
The choosy customer considers such meat to be fresher than the offerings in supermarkets, which sit delicately on a plastic tray or wrapped in foil. Such covered meat spoils quicker, the experts (and traditionalists) insist. It's why in those little butcher shops they still pack meat in paper since it is thought to retain its freshness and taste longer - the down side being that it will dry out more quickly.
"That's what the EU fails to understand," Kasia said. "For them, I'm quite certain our methods of packing seem to be old-fashioned since the way we cut meat isn't chopped in perfect little pieces like they do in the West, but in big chunks. They don't tolerate the way we do things, and want us out of their way."
Nevertheless, not all butchers were so pessimistic about the EU. Among those was a little shop on ul. Baczyńskiego, called Diplomat. This peculiar name comes from past times when there were shops reserved for foreigners (and party hacks) who could pay for their purchases in dollars. Though in Diplomat, Polish currency was also welcomed, the name gives everything away.
"We had the best meat in the whole city," sighed saleswomen Bożena. "In common shops, meat was available only for special coupons which entitled the purchaser to only 2.5 kilograms per month, and still you received mainly pieces that contained fat. Our shop was a meat paradise. The foreigners used to say that our meat was super, tres bonne or buono. They really enjoyed it." She added that the demand for meat might increase if we enter an EU whose citizens are "connoisseurs" of meat.
"Polish beef is as tasty and good in quality as the beef produced in the EU, plus it is much cheaper," Bożena said. "We are an attractive market."
At bazaars like "Szembeka" in southern Praga, you can buy fresh meat directly from the slaughterhouse. It has not been cut in the proper manner, more like with a two-handed axe.
People still come here and buy our products even though they are in such a very raw form because they are often cheaper then in supermarkets. So why bother chopping it nicely?" said a young girl.
But a smaller stall across the little trottoir had more clients. The meat looked to be placed more neatly, and the price tags were more visible than in the previous one.
"If you don't make an effort to have appropriate products that will appeal to the clients, then you'll have troubles surviving," said the shopkeeper of this stall.
The competition is strong indeed, especially if you are in favour of going to big shopping malls like Carrefour or Geant. There, against the walls, are huge chilled cabinets stacked with meat packed neatly in transparent foil. We may be conservative when it comes to fresh meat, but the hypermarkets cunningly display all their wares appetisingly in one spot, which means that although the meat may not be as tasty as offerings from small shops, it still flies past the check-out girls. That's one-stop shopping for you.
Although there is a certain pessimism concerning an increase in meat prices, as well as widespread shutdowns of abattoirs on the grounds they will not meet EU environmental legislation, there is one thing to be optimistic about. We won't be going back to meat coupons, and so far as this unrepentant carnivore is concerned, this is a really splendid prospect.
