L'Echoppe

This strange world can be translated best by "boutique"; it is rather select! One can only be served on presentation of a yellow docket issued by a social worker.

The establishment was set up by the Eglise Réfromée (Protestant Church) to help out asylum seekers and those on the bread-line; it is run by volunteers working Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. parcels of food varying in size according to the number of families are "sold" for €0.30 per head -this is a question of dignity - on a weekly basis.

The contents come from the central Food Bank, which collects left-overs from supermarkets and furnishes l'Echoppe, the Restaurant du Coeur and other caritable organisations, supplemented by occasional gifts. A large part of the work is sorting the possible (see sell-by dates, etc.) and the frankly impossible - squashed tomatoes and rotting potatoes! Our clients often do not speak French, so a good imagination is helpful. It is also of use to be familiar with dietetic regulations and formalities implicit in other religions.

Finally an anecdote about a couple of Algerian asylum seekers wo were discussing in Arabic ( or Kabyle, more likely) a problem that bothered them.