I am as anti big supermarkets as the next person. Okay maybe more so. I never buy homebrand because I firmly believe that buying home brand erodes choice. More and more the big supermarket chains are replacing the products we love with products they love – ie their own version of the same products. To the people that tell me (and I bet that there are at least 10 people ramping up to tell me this in comments) that the products are the same quality and often at a lower price I KNOW! I know that the Coles shortbread biscuits are not made in a special Coles shortbread factory and that they taste the same, weigh the same and have the same ingredients as the Arnotts shortbreads.
But stay with me.
If we buy home brand and stop buying other products the supermarkets will gradually stop selling other brands as they already have with some products, I challenge you to buy quinoa at Coles that is not home branded (be careful they are being extra sneaky with their packaging). With no choice comes monopoly; with monopoly comes the opportunity for the monopoly to charge you anything they want. It also means the elimination of competition which is too horrific to contemplate.
So yes, I am not partial to supermarket thinking. Also not partial to the way they treat farmers or, it turns out, factory workers.
I like little farmer’s markets and small providores, niche websites that deliver organic products produced by farmers that are healthy, wealthy and have a good moral code of behaviour.
But I live a disorganised life and I find myself at the supermarket far more often than I find myself at the local farmer’s market, which isn’t very local because there are not so many farms in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney.
Reality has me at the supermarket but passion has me standing in the ethical aisle. I am a vegetarian that loves steak but has stopped eating meat because I cannot tolerate the thought of cruelty to animals. It’s not even the idea of killing animals to eat that has me riled up, my issue is centred around the way animals are raised, it’s about the way that they live rather than the way they die because once you’re dead – well you’re dead.
I am the kind of person that looks askance at the people buying caged eggs, I am the person asking at restaurants and cafes for the free range egg option, I am the one that looks at the pork products on the refrigerator shelves and sometimes has to stifle tears for thinking about the way that pigs are bred and farmed.
But I am also not naïve and as much as I would like to live in a world of fantasy, rainbows, unicorns and free roaming chicken and pigs I do, to some extent, understand commercial imperatives. I DON’T, to any extent, understand cruelty to animals.
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When I saw this Jamie Oliver clip for Woolworths I was buoyed by the fact that they have committed to phasing out caged eggs. I was delighted that Jamie is pushing them on the sow stalls and hideous pig breeding arrangements they currently employ.
I worried that I had gone soft when I expressed my delight on Twitter and when met with “But they will only be phased out by 2019” and “it’s not good enough” I didn’t reply by saying “Yes, not good enough Woolworths, take the products off your shelves before I get there in the morning!” It’s something I think I may have shouted in the past.
But now I am jaded. Or more reasonable.
I think that the fact that big business is thinking about animal cruelty , that they are prepared to bend on the way that they are acting is a good thing. A wonderful thing.
If we could pass this thinking on to the man on the street spending his dollars on caged eggs and sow stall bred pigs I would be genuinely delighted.
Do you buy caged eggs? Sow stall bred pork? Please tell me you don’t! Or at least tell me why you do
PS. This post is not brought to you by Woolworths as I am sure they don’t know I exist. It is also not brought to you by Jamie Oliver for the same reason.
Lana, I am totally with you on the home brand thing. I shop at Coles rather than Woolworths but I refuse to buy their home brand groceries because like you, I want CHOICE in my supermarket. I also don’t buy my fruit and veggies or meat from Coles, I go to our local butcher who can tell me the name of the pig and how long he lived and what food he ate before he was killed to become my bacon. And I support our local greengrocer by buying all my fruit and vegetables there, rather than the supermarket. I’ve always bought free range eggs anyway, so no need to change anything there.
I know 2019 seems a long way off but really, it’s better than nothing.
Thanks Tracey – it’s great to hear from like minded people! 🙂
Reading your post, Lana, made me happy – it’s always heartening to hear of such compassion, especially coming on the back of an election where many people only voted on what more they could ‘get’ from the shiny new government…(have read with alarm that live exports are ramping up).
I too must restrain myself at the supermarket checkout from giving ‘evils’ to people who buy caged eggs. Are they living in some parallel world where they don’t understand what this involves?!
Yes, the next frontier is sow-stall free pork and yes, 2019 seems a long way off. But it’s “better than nothing” 🙂
The very thought of live exports makes me gag. The cruelty is incomprehensible. I just can’t understand people who don’t see it the same way as I do even though I really try!
No and No.
One day I’ll get vegetarianism to stick. Tried twice, failed twice. Hoping to get there eventually!
xxxxx
You don’t have to be a vegetarian to be cruelty free. xxxx
Great post. I’m trying to buy as little as possible from supermarkets these days (and definitely not home-brand!). I get organic fruit & veggies delivered and have recently started getting our toilet paper delivered from Who Gives A Crap (if you haven’t heard of them they are brilliant – I did a post on them the other day if you’re interested). There’s lots of companies out there these days that are making it easy to not visit supermarkets and it makes me so happy!
I have to try and stop myself giving side-eyes at people buying caged eggs too!
I never thought I would say I am looking forward to reading a post about toilet paper – but I am 🙂
I never thought I’d like writing a post about toilet paper either! Hope you found the post useful!
I think you need to think about the people involved too. If Woolies say no caged eggs tomorrow – there are families whose livelihoods have been that way for years who would have no time to change. Also please research which “free Range eggs” you buy. Not all are equal.
Also if you love steak find a farm with great practices that sells at the farm gate in bulk so you don’t have to visit often. They do exist.
We are lucky we have chooks so we virtually never buy eggs and if I do its from the lady down the road with chooks too.
Thanks for your comments Annaleis – to be honest I don’t really care that much about the people involved. No more so than people who promote dog fighting or bile production from bears or even circuses. I think as a society we have to grow and evolve and I truly believe humans can’t do that while they are still torturing each other or animals. Caged chickens live a life of unimaginable horror with no choice at all, I can’t choose to support a person getting paid to inflict that horror over the chickens. I try to see that vantage point but I just can’t do it.
I choose not to eat meat but the meat my family (and dog) eat are from very humane farmers who dearly love their animals.
Love that you have chooks – lucky chooks and lucky family!
x
We don’t shop at Woolworths or Coles and haven’t for years. We only go to Aldi and our local Foodworks. Aldi is much cheaper, has good products, much more fun too and not nearly as big as the big two. It has all we need, we never have to supplement by going to the larger stores. It has long reached the stage that I don’t even want to go to them. They are not factored in.
Also farmers and suppliers are much happier dealing with Aldi as they pay their bills on time compared to Coles and Woolworths. Article link follows.
However the clincher against Woolworths is their domination of the Australian poker machine industry. This really is a problem to me, supporting a company so involved in pokies. I won’t even get in to the issue of their petrol “discounts”.
http://m.smh.com.au/business/suppliers-rate-aldi-above-woolworths-and-coles-20130305-2fidz.html
http://m.smh.com.au/business/punt-on-pokies-proves-a-big-winner-for-woolworths-20121209-2b3mu.html
Hi john as farmers who supply big supermarkets I feel I have to correct you. Coles and woollies are very efficient payers and generally pay more than aldi. On the matter of pokies, I agree with you.
I only buy free range eggs when I don’t get them from my MIL where they all have names and roam around the garden all day..
I think its a shame the labeling makes it so hard for people to understand what they are actually buying, to what standards the animals are kept or what is actually in the food we buy at supermarkets…
I envy you the access to your MIL 😉
I don’t usually buy my eggs at a supermarket thanks to this fine establishment http://www.featherandbone.com.au/ but you are spot on about the labeling!
Great post! I buy at the supermarkets against my will (my best intentions don’t always come to fruition), and I also buy from my local butcher and have a Greek market that sells everything at half the price!
However, realistically most of the population buy at the big supermarkets, so someone like Jamie that has such a wide reaching message is a wonderful way to ‘convert’ the masses! I would also love him to try and get Woolies to makeover their catalouges and put more fresh produce instead of junk food in about 90% of it.
It would be great if we could all change tomorrow, but its not going to happen, so lets move in the right direction.
I would love to know the classification of ‘free range’ eggs. Coles seemed to go free range pretty quickly and they have wide ranging prices. Anyone know of a resource to show if some ‘free range’ eggs are better than others?
Lanz – couldn’t agree with you more. I am a person who, when at the supermarket pays twice as much for milk because its good for our farmers not the supermarkets. I do give evil looks to people who buy the $2 bottle. I buy eggs that are biodynamic, organic and open range, they cost about $1 an egg! I feel comfort that I am supporting my team, so to speak. Not to sound holyier than though but I feel like if we (the ones that show power with our dollar) keep buying organic, free range, fresh, and not highly processed crap will get there in the end. x M
I don’t buy caged eggs, but am wary too of all the “free range” brands that seem to proliferate our shelves of late (as many aren’t really free range in the true sense, just another marketing exercise by the big corporations). You really need to know your producers, prior to getting to the checkout when it comes to eggs!!