Recently on Radio 4’s PM programme, I took part in a discussion with Chris Haskins, former boss of Northern Foods, and doughty defender of supermarket convenience food. He found my suggestion that in the light of Horsegate, more people might prefer to make their own spaghetti bolognese, hopelessly idealistic. “Tell the women of Britain and Ireland to start cooking again and you’d find some resistance,” he said.
The next day on the Today programme, another man, this time the journalist Steven Poole, who specialises in debunking ‘foodism’, took a similar line with cookery writer Rose Prince. “Making a meal from scratch is a nice dream,” he told her.
Recently, a chorus of male voices has been raised in a wave of ‘new man’ support for working women, insisting that cooking even the simplest meals from scratch is a defunct occupation.
“Supermarkets are past masters at using the ‘no time to cook’ argument”
Supermarkets are past masters at using the ‘no time to cook’ argument to build their sales, presenting their products in a self-serving, one-sided way. Ask women, and for that matter, men, if they want to buy more or less instant, cheap food that’s decent quality, safe, and healthy, what’s not to like?
But ask them how they feel about eating products made from low-grade ingredients and additives sourced on the cheap, products that represent rotten value for money, taste as bad as airline meals, and which are likely to make you fat if not ill, you’d hear an altogether different response.
Of course, time saving isn’t the supermarkets’ only pitch. They’re saving us money too, or so we’re led to believe. Supermarkets love to pose as charitable concerns, altruistically keeping down the price of food. This fairy tale goes down well with government, which is one reason why our big food retail chains enjoy a light regulatory touch.
Isn’t it about time that we scotched this myth by forcing supermarkets to declare what they pay suppliers? Consumers might not be too chuffed if they discovered that they had paid £1.99 for a box of low-grade junk that their supermarket had purchased from its suppliers for 99p. With that knowledge, ‘cheap’ processed foods would be exposed as what they are: a lucrative con.
Joanna Blythman is a journalist and author of What to Eat
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