On my way home from work I passed up through Casnewydd onwards up to the Cwmbrân area when I realised I needed to go and do a bit of basic shopping.
I turned into the Somerfield Supermarket in Llantarnam near Cwmbrân.
Shock and horror total AWE ! not one Welsh pint of milk, not one product displaying any dragon and worse everything on the shelves appeared to have come from hundreds of miles away. Like the milk from JERSEY and Guernsey and YORKSHIRE !
I sought out the manager but only got the deputy manager - bemused he politely passed off - more like brushed off my comment, "that the stores' Carbon Footprint must be as big as an Elephant if not as big as a Mammoth since everything comes from anywhere except Wales." When I asked him why do you buy everything from the British and not from Wales - and further commented, "that nothing in here is from Wales" - he replied, " I do not not know why ." I asked that he convey my dismay to his manager. He luke warmly agreed and walked off. Am I the only one that has ever made this sort of complaint?
I then left the store with nothing in my trolley not having spent one single penny and went to ASDA where Welsh produce is sold.
An independent Wales could ensure that all supermarkets in Wales sell a percentage of Welsh produce, it is readily available.
John Frost
2 comments:
Hello John,
The supermarkets are not your favourite place then?
Have you been to Carmarthen lately?
The Saturday market is a "wondrous thing".
Fresh fish, cockles and laver, home-cured hams hanging from the ceiling, dirt covered carrots, glistening cabbages,... mis-shapen apples, local jams and honey, fresh baked bread and cakes, pies and roasted meats, nicks and nacks, second hand books, wooly jumpers and welly boots, shining smiles and the lilt of Welsh bind the market and the people.
A proper market, better than any supermarket it is butt!
Supermarkets, and their absentee owners profit from our indifference, we must surely seek out the farmers and producers, and deal directly with them.
I guess, at the moment, we are very lucky here in the West, that our producers still have a market, allthough the local councillors are suggesting that the market be replaced with a debenhams, a cinema, and a new car park.
Apparently, that will make the town a better place, and we can expect milk from Yorkshire, beef from Ireland and vegetables from America.
Supermarkets are best avoided surely? In carbon terms, the Welsh milk and eggs at in supermarkets like ASDA is probably taken to depots in England, perhaps outside Bristol or Manchester, or even the midlands before being redistributed to stores in Wales. Better surely to buy from a local shop that sources produce from a local farmer or farm marketing co-op?
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