As an introduction to the benefits of capitalism, I used to like to take them to the local supermarket. It was a real treat to see the look of bewilderment on their faces at the sight of a fully stocked Tesco. They’d never seen so many things for sale in one place before. They just couldn’t believe the number and range of goods available, and the experience was sometimes too much for them.
On her first visit to Tesco, one of the Latvians got hung up on the toothpaste aisle. She was confused by the number of dental hygiene products available. “All these are different?” she asked. No, I said, they all do pretty much the same job; it’s mostly just the packaging that’s different. “It is good to have choice” she said, still staring at the display, “Which one does the government recommend?”
I was reminded of the Latvian conversation when I came across this Telegraph piece by Alice Thomson. She caricatures the evils of supermarkets before praising them to the heavens.
Supermarkets are evil, I thought as I pushed my trolley round Tesco Metro in Canary Wharf. They've bankrupted British farmers with their milk cartels and demands for supermodel vegetables. They've destroyed specialist butcher's and baker's, I muttered as I chose some lemon and tarragon chicken breasts from its "Finest" range. They've forced out village and corner shops, ruined communities, blighted green fields, championed strawberries at Christmas and driven us to obesity with their one-stop shopping.Michael Jennings at Samizdata and Alice Bachini both point to Thomson’s article and take up the song of praise. Supermarkets are applauded for their convenience, the range of goods on offer and, strangely to my mind, the price and freshness of their produce.
I guess we’re lucky to live near three greengrocers who sell fresher produce at lower prices than the supermarkets. And there are a variety of shops within walking distance that undercut Tesco on most of the other groceries we buy. The supermarket is handy when I’ve got the boys with me and I need to do a quick shop or I need cleaning products. Other than that, most of the stuff they sell I’m not interested in and the rest I can generally get cheaper elsewhere.
I have the time to shop, and Mac and I both love to cook, so apart from bread and milk we buy mostly fruit and veg, grains, pulses and a little meat. Most of the people I see at the supermarket are buying tinned, packaged, processed or frozen foods that we generally don’t eat. It’s a matter of taste I guess.
I’m not anti-supermarket but the praise that Tesco and the rest receive here seems too fulsome to me. Supermarkets offer a fine range of goods at fair prices but you’d think from reading Thomson that they’d created heaven on earth.
With all those tempting offers, they seem more like Eden to me.
