The local butchers and bakers

To put my actions where my mouth is, I’ve started an initiative that I hope will help give bakeries and butchers a more visible presence in our communities.

As any traveller who has done a few kilometres will tell ya, you just have to stop at a bakery. Here, you not only get a nice fresh loaf of bread and a pint or two of milk, but you’ll also get to grab a cheeky small chocolate milk or coffee, a sausage roll for mornos, a pie for lunch, a vanilla slice and/or cake for arvo tea and perhaps something for desert – oh and don’t forget something for anyone else in the car.

So too, you can pop into a local butchers and get a recommended cut or something a little unique the butcher has dreamt up to marinade the pork in. Not to mention the sausages in all their glory. Then there’s the bacon – not to mention the banter that goes with any butcher worth their blue and white striped apron and knife belt.

Then there’s the debate about do you eat your bakery buys there, find somewhere close by, eat it in the car or have it later. That’s where the sausage roll comes in – you can eat it as you’re walking out the hanging fly-strip door (problem solved!).

So, I’ve taken a page from someone who interviews publicans and I’m sending emails to bakers and butchers in various regional locations and asking them 10 questions and seeking answers to at least eight.

My questions start with the following and go where ever the conversation and responses take us:

1. What is your name and title?

2. In what year did the bakery or butchers first open?

3. How long have you been with the bakery or butchers?

4. What time of the day do you start?

5. Have you won any awards?

6. For the bakers – Do you sell vanilla slices?

6. For the butchers – Do you sell chicken schnitzel?

7. How important to you is the travelling tourist trade?

8. Where is the best place for travelling visitors to park a car and caravan when they shop at your store?

9. What would you recommend is ‘the must do thing’ in town for a visitor?

10. How do you feel your shop best supports the local community?

Oh yeah – I’ll be sharing the location of these bakeries and butchers using what3words.com addresses. You can read more on these on my page Locations.

I hope you enjoy these chats and I hope even more that you’ll pop in and say hi – oh and please say hi from me too.

PS: Please send photos of your vanilla slices or chicken schnitzels to dayv@campandtravel.com.au.