Farm shop opens in centre of Paris

A direct-from-the-farm shop has beaten opposition from supermarket giant Monoprix to open up today in the Paris 10th arrondissement.

The Kelbongoo ‘halle alimentaire’ newly opened at Bichat-Temple, near Hôpital Saint-Louis, had been backed by groups trying to prevent supermarket groups dominating the high street, with the StopMonop collective gathering support from local residents and councillors to offer something different.

Kelbongoo (Quel bon goût!) is a start-up that will offer 300 varieties of fruit and veg, cheese, meat, biscuits and beer that are locally-sourced and, it says, cheap.

Shoppers must order in advance on the Kelbongoo site (http://kelbongoo.com/) with producers in Oise, Somme, Aisne and Nord who have two days to supply them.

The producers are members of the Association de Maintien de l’Agriculture Paysanne (AMAP) that offers food boxes to shoppers and the variety of produce ranges from honey to Picardy snails and yoghurts.

One Paris ‘écoguide’ said shoppers could save €6.79 on a basket of goods compared to Monoprix and pay just 56 centimes more than at Carrefour – with fruit and veg being cheaper at Kelbongoo while poultry, dairy products and pre-prepared foods were dearer.

Kelbongoo said it works with about more than 40 producers, with 30% of them organic, with a margin of 23% for its running costs. One of its aims is to bring down the price of organic foods compared to organic supermarkets.