- Can we imagine a people, if when we put the cart out on the market, we had everything we had in our hands, without having to look at the label, without having to ask the seller? Not all the people, but the plaza is like this in Azpeitia. Located in the center of the fair of the baserritars, this store only sells products of the land: meat, fruit, vegetables, dairy, cereals... and prepared dishes to eat. They buy more than a hundred producers, most directly, and offer a shopping service to the schools, nurseries and canteens of the residence. They are satisfied because they are taking steps in their founding objective: that the life of producers is viable to keep the rural environment alive. The centre has managed to increase the consumption of local products, as reported by the Basque Government. So much so that in Azpeitia some baserritarras have begun to produce new products, at the request of the citizens. And because they have to bring many products from Navarra, exhausting those from the baserritars of the valley.
Everything you'll find in the store is from here. This is the hallmark of the Food Center. But what to say “there”? Taking Azpeitia as a center, the local agents defined as a place the produced within a radius of 150 kilometers, when at the initiative of the City Council, they participated in the process of renovating the Plaza de Abastos and elaborated the idea of the Elikunea store. The daily activity of the store is carried out by the cooperative Artxara, and within that radius of 150 kilometers, the agents decided to reduce it to Euskal Herria. “In the cooperative we saw it necessary to have a clear red line because, if not, the project would be distorted. In case of offering external products, where is the limit?”
The production of products of a single raw material in the Basque Country for sale in the Food Centre, and in the case of processed products, at least 50% of the raw materials coming from the Basque Country. “For example, in the case of a jam, sometimes 45% may be sugar (foreign product), but the fruit or vegetable used to make that jam should be from the Basque Country.”
Therefore, in the Food we will never find laranjas, nor bananas, nor chocolate, nor coffee, nor sugar… at the first opening of the store many people asked in our homes for these everyday products, but this month of February has turned three years and, as explained by our colleagues, “people are already accustomed, know what is from here and what is not, and do not ask what is not from here”. They have also explained that it happens often: people are surprised by the number of things that occur in the Basque Country: “You come from here, but you have rice? They ask us and we answer: yes, rice is produced in Navarra.” Through daily purchasing, the Food Center is influencing education and knowledge.
In these three years, the numbers of the cooperative Artxara also reflect the success of the project: three workers started and today they are six working partners, a seventh worker, which brings together more than 300 consuming partner households. The partner has its advantages: discounts, priority to participate in courses, possibility to participate in the annual assembly…
The problem of success
“The biggest problem we have had is the lack of product. We started well, but as volumes increased, we couldn't meet the demand with the products in our environment. Our region and also Gipuzkoa, demand is higher than that produced”. Each of the products is taken to the nearest producers and many of the missing products in the valley are brought from Navarra. Under the impetus of demand, the producers in the area are adapting their production: “Some have started to produce new products, others to transform new products, the baserritarra that brings us meat has made adaptations in production, we have defined a calendar with vegetable producers in order to meet that demand…”
Everyone puts a price on their work
“We use the shortest possible means to access these products: in most cases, we deal directly with producers.” They say that when they deal with producers, they don't start to agree on the price. “The producer is the one that determines the price, we then put a margin of up to 35%, and so far we have had no problem. If a producer put an excessive price on a product, it would be as harmful to him as it would to us.”
You're clear that this direct relationship is your treasure, but that means that day-to-day management is much more difficult. “Normal shops have very few suppliers and each one is asked for a lot of products. In our case, many producers have a single product. Therefore, the producers that are our suppliers are over 120. This means that in order to have the full store we have to make more than 120 requests, a lot of bills, it has its difficulties in making the payments… but that’s the way.”
Three spaces and eleven initiatives
The store has three areas: butchery, shop with all kinds of products (preserves, vegetables, cereals, dairy…) and kitchen. In the kitchen, they offer between 5 and 6 dishes made with local products, which can be taken home every day. They also prepare food on demand: before the pandemic they received many petitions from associations, and in popular meals they offered a catering service.
They also made tastings, organizing special pintxopotes every Thursday and Friday: they took a product as a theme and explained the theme, presented the producer and took different pintxos elaborated with that theme, “to value the product”.
They also say that the courses they have taught were very successful, “because we always try to collaborate with the people’s agents. We believe that the good answer we have received is also for that reason. With the free time group we organize courses for young people; a course to make recipes with local products…”.
Supplying canteens with local products
Two years ago, they began working with the village's collective dining rooms: The nursing home in Azpeitia, Ikasberri Ikastola, the Sanagustin Cultural Center and the Haurreskola Uztaro are responsible for supplying the feeding centers three times a week. “They make petitions and we make them to the producers: if not, a dining room has to make a lot of petitions to complete its daily menu and a lot of bills to pay. We provide them with that work, centralize that work and complete their weekly request among the different producers.”
To respond to the dining rooms, a working group was set up with the producers in the region, and with each producer the purchase has been planned: “A producer may have between 1 and 2 products and commits to working some quantities of these products throughout the year.” They explain that there has also been a case of diversification as a result of the demands of the dining rooms: “The one who made the dairy products before only made whole milk, has now become semi-skimmed and has begun to make butter with the milk fat that spare it… we see that it influences the production and that they are creating new products in the region.”
FICHE
What it does: a meeting point for local products. Commerce, supply unit, workshops, courses, tastings...
Workers and partners: six partner workers and one worker.
Created: In 2018.
Residence: Azpeitia.
Contact: info@elikagunea.eus