The Asda Trolleys of Alienation. I knew this photo would come in handy one day and I'm glad it did because I looked daft taking it |
- Supermarkets ride roughshod over planning laws, and have various tactics to force councils into granting them permission to build or expand stores, sometimes despite enormous local opposition.
- Supermarkets dictate to suppliers what they should supply, with the result that our farming industry has been changed for the worse and in a way that isn’t now recoverable.
- Supermarkets try to nudge us into buying more value-added (processed) foods and less ingredients, because the profit margin is higher.
- The number of new jobs supermarkets provide doesn’t compensate in number overall for the number of jobs lost in other shops, and the effect of supermarkets on nearby towns is generally pretty rotten.
When did you last see a mad wooden chicken in a supermarket book section? Shop independent and save the mad wooden chickens! |
- Replace as much of my supermarket shop as is practicable with things from the market and independent shops. This has been quite a lot of fun so far, and no more trouble than doing a once-a-week shop at the supermarket. It’s just different. (Basically, you have to chat more).
- Cook as much from scratch as possible. Every time you get your mixing bowl out, Tesco’s share price looks a little bit shakier. Every time you think to yourself ‘I don’t actually believe that the Finest Range is the highest possible peak of gastronomic perfection’, a shiver goes down the spine of Tesco’s chairman. It’s a marvellous revolutionary kind of political act, and it’s even better because you get food at the end of it. Che Guevara might be on a lot of tshirts but he never did anything that produced a cupcake.
- Not buy non-food-items or services from supermarkets, because I think they’ve taken over enough of the food part of the retail sector without taking over the rest of it as well. We have our car insurance with Tesco at the moment and I’m going to move it (and yes, I am looking forward to trying to find a really ethical insurer, thanks very much ;-) ). I don’t buy clothes at the moment and the last time I bought something electrical from Tesco it was rubbish (don’t get me started), so I’m not keen to repeat that. So we’re alright until they start selling Malabrigo for 50p a skein in which case I might have a bit of an inner battle.
- Grow My Own. Well, it’s fair to say I’ve failed this year, but by God it can’t be beyond the wit of woman, can it? So next year is going to see me with a trowel in my hand poking at a sprout top and being marvellously connected to the earth and the food chain.
(Aaaaaaand… if you want to know more, there are some good resources at Tescopoly, and some leaflets about the problems with supermarkets at Corporate Watch. I’m just off now to read the one about the problems with supermarket shop local initiatives. Eternal vigilance, people. Eternal vigilance!).
8 comments:
Any revolution that involves homemade scones sounds like a good revolution... though i'm having a lot of trouble with the giving up of Amazon. Maybe I need to be evolutionary instead of revolutionary? I do love the farmer's market and we have been eating tomatoes all summer from my husband's micro-garden on the patio. That's progress, I'm sure of it :-)
Helloooo! and thank you for your comment. Completely agree re the scary nature of Tesco's and supermarkets in general, and yes, if Malabrigo goes for that money, it's goodbye ethics and hello knittery!
I've got to say, I'm finding giving up Amazon completely difficult too. I will be evolutionary instead of revolutionary along with you, Marushka (although I've been looking at abebooks.co.uk recently and they seem quite good!).
Hi Earthenwitch, yes ethics could not survive bargain Malabrigo ;-) (if Tesco start selling wool now I'm going to be really scared).
GREAT post and comes just at the time when I cut up my Tesco Clubcard to stop me going there EVER AGAIN, lol!
I have made a decision to shop locally, buy through a cooperative (Greencity) and to grow some items of my own.
If only I could control my fibre/books spending habits...
I'm sure there is a good T shirt logo in there.. "Che Guevara might be on a lot of tshirts but he never did anything that produced a cupcake."..
up the revolution and pass me a scone!
Wonderful article, well written! I can recommend Alys Fowler's "Edible garden" book for novice growers. Very inspiring even for the seasoned allotmenteer and veteran anti consumer! It's hard work but worth every penny you save (actually that's an understatment) and every shiver down that chairmans spine! Have fun.
x
I can't give up Amazon. They keep me in Kindle books- and Leonidas chocolate, and my Zhena's Gypsy Caramel Apple tea. It's also where I've started buying music since I'm boycotting iTunes.
But everything else? Brilliant ideas. The problem here is that we literally don't have small local stores. We only have the really big chain stores
Thank you everyone! xoxo
I will try the Alys Fowler book, thanks, I've heard good things about that!
CJ - have I got to boycott ITunes? I can if I have to, because mine actually doesn't work any more (I am a technological incompetent). I'm not sure boycotting through technological incompetence counts though (but shhhh, they don't know that ;-) ).
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