evil blackberries

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giraffe

Joined: 07 Oct 2005
Posts: 272
Location: Nottingham

Posted: Sun Oct 30, 05 5:52 pm Post subject: evil blackberries
A certain well known supermarket reccommended by Jamie Oliver, and whose name begins with an "S" is selling punnets of blackberries I notice. Country of origin? Mexico! Price for a small punnet? ï¿½2.99! Evil, I tell you, evil!

Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Sun Oct 30, 05 6:04 pm Post subject:
I'm not as anti supermarkets as some but this just seems plain daft. I can only assume that various 'seasonal' recipes have proved popular or something like that. Madness.

2steps

Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Posts: 5349
Location: Surrey

Posted: Sun Oct 30, 05 6:38 pm Post subject:
why not grow them here and save on all the import costs? crazy

nettie

Joined: 02 Dec 2004
Posts: 5888
Location: Suffolk

Posted: Sun Oct 30, 05 10:16 pm Post subject:

hermil

Joined: 04 Sep 2005
Posts: 42
Location: Manchester

Posted: Sun Oct 30, 05 10:35 pm Post subject:

I really jib at the prices supermarkets charge for soft fruit, raspberries, blackberries and the like. Now I've got an allotment and our raspberries grow so plentifully it almost seems absurd - we made 10lbs jam about two weeks ago just from the autumn fruiters. There is a communal blackberry bush on one corner of the site which seems to have enough on it for everyone. I think the supermarkets are trying to foster an illusion of exoticism and of course as soon as a celeb chef pops up and plugs anything the price rockets even more. I still remember the appalling price charged for tins of broad beans when Delia Smith added them to a recipe - I grow my own now but at the time I lived in a flat with no balcony and couldn't.
I'm expecting the price of carrots to escalate now that Jamie's been shown prancing round the kitchen with a few.

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Mon Oct 31, 05 10:45 am Post subject:
Buying a ubiquitous wild fruit is crazy. Importing it from Mexico is even more crazy. Personally, I've boycotted that supermarket chain for months now, and have no intention of going back. I can cope with some of the supermarket naffness, but I've got no time for their hypocrisy.

Jonnyboy

Joined: 29 Oct 2004
Posts: 23956
Location: under some rain.

Posted: Mon Oct 31, 05 10:53 am Post subject:

2steps wrote:

why not grow them here and save on all the import costs? crazy

Fuel prices over there are a fraction of ours, so is labour.

It;s cost effective for them to do this against locally grown stuff, especially as their distribution system works against small, local suppliers - they are so geared up for huge economies of scale that they can't deal with small quantities.

Plus of course, there is a marked for this product, which is the real crime imho.

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45674
Location: Essex

Posted: Mon Oct 31, 05 10:56 am Post subject:

Jonnyboy wrote:

Plus of course, there is a marked for this product, which is the real crime imho.

Yup, the buck stops with US.

Lozzie

Joined: 25 May 2005
Posts: 2595

Posted: Mon Oct 31, 05 12:25 pm Post subject:
I have just visited the Sainsbury's website and submitted a query about this to them. Can only recommend that you do the same. Here is the link - https://www.j-sainsbury.co.uk/index.asp?pageid=326

ele

Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Posts: 814
Location: Derby

Posted: Mon Oct 31, 05 12:55 pm Post subject:
Done I'll post up any e-mail reply I get

giraffe

Joined: 07 Oct 2005
Posts: 272
Location: Nottingham

Posted: Tue Nov 01, 05 12:55 pm Post subject:
just emailled them. Glad it's not just me who is appalled by this!

jema
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28237
Location: escaped from Swindon

Posted: Tue Nov 01, 05 1:24 pm Post subject:
I do despair of the punters at times, last year when Morrisons was I think still Safeways, they were selling blackberries at the height of season in a store where the car park is surround with brambles Did not see the same this year, so maybe there is a little hope?

ele

Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Posts: 814
Location: Derby

Posted: Tue Nov 01, 05 1:29 pm Post subject:

jema wrote:

I do despair of the punters at times, last year when Morrisons was I think still Safeways, they were selling blackberries at the height of season in a store where the car park is surround with brambles

Did not see the same this year, so maybe there is a little hope?

I used to be that person

wishus

Joined: 24 Oct 2005
Posts: 777
Location: Northampton, East Midlands

Posted: Tue Nov 01, 05 6:27 pm Post subject:

Hands up - I went into Sainsbury's yesterday, but only because my housemate had neglected to tell me it was her birthday, and I wanted to get her a gift. Not having had time to prepare, I needed to buy something. The only place open by the time I got to town on the bus was Sainsbury's...
... but I walked past the fruit and veg section, and thought, mmm, apples.
They had 2 crates marked with the Union Jack, and one of them had a big, pointy sign that said "Produced in the UK and this season's", so I picked some of those.
Proof that marketing works - they tapped into my desires to choose seasonal British fruit - but I'm just propping up their empire - and just because it was British, doesn't mean it wasn't driven miles out of the way to get to that store.
I feel duped.

Penelope Anderson

Joined: 21 Sep 2005
Posts: 326
Location: london

Posted: Sat Nov 05, 05 4:09 pm Post subject: Switch of name
Oh so that's who Morrisons were, thanks for telling me. Never been near either, but it's useful to know. The price of brambles is dreadful[ the trouble is if you go to the country to pick them (I live in London) a lot of people have the same idea and the bramble patches are bare.!

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