In no situation will everybody in every group be able to do everything. This is not an excuse for everyone in every group to do nothing.
Because those on the smallest incomes cannot shop around, do not have the income to make choices, does not excuse those who can for not making those choices. The median household in come in this country is ÂŁ32,200. That means the middle value where 50% have a larger income and 50% have a smaller income.
If the 50% or more, who should be able to make the choices between a good diet or bad, who are likely to have the ability to choose not to shop in supermarkets, were to do so, the supermarkets would lose so much trade they would have to adjust to consumer demand, assuming that consuners didn't choose to put the price of their food above the quality.
The factor that has driven supermarket growth in this country is that for well over 100 years there has been a government policy of making sure food is as cheap as possible.
This policy in the late 1800s to 1940s destroyed our agriculture industry, drove farmers that managed to make a living to pursue crops with high productivity, grown on soils heavily chemically fertilised, using insecticides to control pests. or rearing animals in unnatural conditions on foods they digestions are not adapted to deal with and then pumping them full of antibiotics to deal with constant infection, and worst still giving them antibiotics to make them grow faster. It has led to a loss of diversity in animal breeds and crop varietys and in many area left us dependent on one or two seed varieties or animal types. It has devastated wildlife, reduced insect and baird populations and made a major contribution to global warming.
Reading GN it is very clear that what drives most people's food buying, even when it is not a question of income, is price, low is good high is better. Put quality before price and you are a middle class snob.
In the UK we spend a smaller proportion of our incomes on food than any other country in Europe, and only Australia and the US spend less on food than us world wide. Both countries renowned for industrial farming without regard to its environmental cost, nor its appalling animal welfare standards.
We can be grouped withthese two countries because our governments over many years have espoused chep food at all cost and the British public as a whole, have themselves been bred to put price before everything else when buying food.
In the 18th and early 19th century Britain was famous for the quality of its food. The British population was the best fed in Europe.
Since 1900 it has been famed for the dreadfulness of its food, its poor quality and tastelessness. One of the outstanding improvements emanating from having a large immigrant population has had is to raise our culinary standards. Unfortunately we mainly eat these new and interesting food products through ready meals where poor quality ingredients are enhanced by chemicals and E numbers. and to get these foreign dishes intheir true quality you have to find the restaurants that attract that countries own people.
