Is fruit a load of crap now?
Discussion
otolith said:
Forester1965 said:
Ultimately we're paying the price of voting with our feet and choosing price and convenience. The supermarkets rule the roost now and the greengrocers that used to be on every high street are no more.
Asian groceries tend to have pretty good fruit and veg, though. Honeydew melons are generally bland and tasteless.
I do grow my own veg, which tastes much better than shop stuff. Currently picking purple sprouting at the moment which is one of my favourite veg, next to runner beans.
I think part of the problem is we eat food out of season. I've got a nice swede to go with my lamb on Sunday.
I do grow my own veg, which tastes much better than shop stuff. Currently picking purple sprouting at the moment which is one of my favourite veg, next to runner beans.
I think part of the problem is we eat food out of season. I've got a nice swede to go with my lamb on Sunday.
otolith said:
Forester1965 said:
Ultimately we're paying the price of voting with our feet and choosing price and convenience. The supermarkets rule the roost now and the greengrocers that used to be on every high street are no more.
Asian groceries tend to have pretty good fruit and veg, though. Generally in the UK we've abandoned independent bakers, butchers and grocers in favour of shopping in the supermarket. The independent businesses fail. There'll of course be exceptions for artisanal produce etc but the general trend is downwards. In 1997 there were about 7000 greengrocers and by 2021 is was around 2500.
Once you lose the independents, you're at the mercy of the ranges and quality the supermarkets choose to stock- which is largely the same across the big 5 or 6.
Forester1965 said:
otolith said:
Forester1965 said:
Ultimately we're paying the price of voting with our feet and choosing price and convenience. The supermarkets rule the roost now and the greengrocers that used to be on every high street are no more.
Asian groceries tend to have pretty good fruit and veg, though. Jamescrs said:
I#ve been buying fruit from a greengrocer for the last couple of weeks on the basis I assumed it would be better than a supermarket, so far it isn't and seems to go bad faster too.
Yep, all you're doing in going to a greengrocer is adding a other step (delay) in the supply chain. Supermarkets with integrated logistics are cheaper and fresher for imported fruit and out of season veg.If you are looking for proper local produce produce then yes the shorter supply chain of a proper farm shop has benefits.
otolith said:
I suspect that it's largely because they also sell products that you can't easily buy in the supermarket - so creates footfall for those products.
Certainly Asian staples in larger fresh quantities. I live near big Asian populations so use them to get mine. Ironically the local Sainsbury's trolls people who buy the little Schwartz style spice pots by having an Asian aisle next to them with 10x the quantity for the same price!
Forester1965 said:
Certainly Asian staples in larger fresh quantities. I live near big Asian populations so use them to get mine.
Ironically the local Sainsbury's trolls people who buy the little Schwartz style spice pots by having an Asian aisle next to them with 10x the quantity for the same price!
Yep. They sell the big bags of staples, but they also tend to have a much wider range of spices and spice mixes, achars, mustard oil (for external use only Ironically the local Sainsbury's trolls people who buy the little Schwartz style spice pots by having an Asian aisle next to them with 10x the quantity for the same price!
) etc, and frequently have frozen products that the supermarkets just don't sell. And the fruit and veg section will often have produce that the supermarkets don't stock - fresh curry leaves, bitter gourd, lau, proper mangoes - and the sort of chillies that the supermarkets sometimes sell but not usually loose.otolith said:
Forester1965 said:
Ultimately we're paying the price of voting with our feet and choosing price and convenience. The supermarkets rule the roost now and the greengrocers that used to be on every high street are no more.
Asian groceries tend to have pretty good fruit and veg, though. What annoys me about supermarket fruit is how under ripe it usually is, which I assume gives them a longer date range to store and sell it.
My favourite fruit are peaches and nectarines yet they are always rock hard and inedible when I buy them, they are never soft and ripe, even those that are packaged as 'already ripe'. By the time they are soft enough to eat they've often started to go mouldy. I reckon If they are ever perfectly ripe then it's for only 3 1/2 seconds on a Tuesday morning when I'm not home.
My favourite fruit are peaches and nectarines yet they are always rock hard and inedible when I buy them, they are never soft and ripe, even those that are packaged as 'already ripe'. By the time they are soft enough to eat they've often started to go mouldy. I reckon If they are ever perfectly ripe then it's for only 3 1/2 seconds on a Tuesday morning when I'm not home.
Edited by The Gauge on Wednesday 27th March 16:28
Caddyshack said:
I suspect that we could also take out the word fruit or oranges and substitute many food items. Does supermarket meat taste worse or better than foods from 70s, 80s, 90s etc?
I guess that depends, take supermarket beef for example, there can be quite a big difference in quality and taste between the same cut of meat. The cheapest value steak won't be as good as one of the higher quality ages steaks. Good quality food can be found in supermarkets if you know what you are looking for. Equally, some independent shops sell utter crap or bog standard stuff at inflated prices. 
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