It’s a worthy goal – in these difficult times, get your food from a struggling local business rather than one of the chain supermarkets. But can you do that safely? Studio040 put this to the test this weekend. One of their journalists, San van Suchtelen, got Easter lunch from local businesses.
Their trip started in Woensel-West, where a remarkable number of shops were open further down in Edison Street. But you can’t simply walk into some. The Jungle Café keeps the entrance ‘barricaded’ with a small table. It serves as an order and takeaway counter.
This lunchroom had only just opened when the coronavirus got a grip on the country. “We then quickly decided to continue as a takeaway”, owner, Niels Voorhout, says. “It’s actually going very well. People know where to find us”. San left with a Greek salad.
Muffins in takeaway bag
At the café/home shop, ‘Van Alles & Co’, a few doors down, you won’t notice much referring to the anti-coronavirus measures. Owner, Peter Cornet, has quite a few of his home items displayed on the wide sidewalk. This draws a lot of attention.
He still sells coffee and muffins, but these too he brings outside in a takeaway bag. “We’ve done everything we can to keep going”, Cornet says, while he gives San two muffins. “It’s not ideal, of course, but you can see people keep hanging around.”
On to the Philips Fruit Garden and a local business with local products. Owner, Carlos Faes, proudly shows off his orchard, where 2020’s apples and pears are in bloom. There’s no takeaway counter inside – just the normal shop space with plenty of room to move.
Only the counter’s screened off with a few extra crates. The products on display there are, therefore, at a safe distance. Faes says, “I’d have liked to have given you the special Easter lunchbox, but they’re sold out”. The journalist leaves with a bottle of juice and some apples from the 2019 season.
Egg drive-through
And what’s Easter without eggs? San picked them up at the ‘Egg Drive Inn’ on Oirschotsedijk. This is a kind of takeaway wall but filled with free-range eggs instead of frikadellen and other typical Dutch snacks. The eggs are from chickens from a farm in Oirschot, the carton reads.
Finally, the warm day tempted San to visit the Intelligentsia ice cream shop in Strijp S. Here, you can order ice cream and coffee from your car, just like at that famous fast-food chain. The purchase is packed in a white box and handed over to the customer on a sparkling clean tray. You get a strong impression that this is safe. “We wanted to combine the legal guidelines with a ‘nice moment’ in this less-than-pleasant time”, manager, Björn Cocu, explains.
And so, without any significant risk of contamination, the Studio040 reporter managed to get a very acceptable Easter spread within a 3km radius of their home.
Source: Studio040
Translator: Bob
