Local food vs. Supermarkets 173

Following up to Enrico C

that's the fantasised world of when women stayed at home and joined the WI, when the civil service made women retire when they married, we went to church on Sunday and played cricket on the village green. Nobody had a car of course. The local shops in reality often had a crap range of stale produce including fish that smelt of ammonia. Then the supermarket arrived, you could choose your own goods without the interference of a rude arrogant shop buttistant and they responded to customers interest in buying a wider range of lines. Who else remembers when it was impossible to buy an aubergine or even a bottle of wine on Sunday? You can still buy a punnet of strawberries or potatoes from the ground from market stalls almost everywhere. They are better and cheaper than both the old local shops or supermarket fruit and veg. Same goes for "ethnic" shops. The supermarkets are a big problem for the farmers and for haulage and road congestion. Are they really a problem for the consumer? I still have choice. Borough market. Farmers markets. I have a local baker and butcher who are polite and helpful because they know they have to be, ethnic shops in Woolwich, Chinese cash and carry. Pick your own or farm door shops. I'm in contact with vertically integrated producers over the internet for meat and game products. It seems to me the supermarkets were inevitable once we became properly mobile. Now all we need to do is care enough about what we eat to use what's already out there. Why is the freshest fish I can buy at the Chinese cash and carry? Because Chinese people care about what they eat. Many (but less than before) ethnically English people either don't know or don't care any more than they can cook properly or ensure school dinners are of an acceptable standard without the intervention of a celebrity chef. Fix that and we don't have a problem. -- Mike Reid