Shopped: The Shocking Power of British Supermarkets

(Paperback)

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An elegant demolition of the supermarket miracle, this book charts the impact that supermarkets have had on every aspect of our lives and culture. Did you know! / Almost 50 per cent of supermarket fruit and vegetables contain pesticide residues / UK supermarkets make 40p on every AGBP1 spent on bananas while plantations workers are paid just 1p / Supermarkets instill a climate of fear amongst their suppliers / Every time a supermarket opens the local community loses on average 276 jobs In the 1970s, British supermarkets had only 10 per cent of the UK's grocery spend. Now they swallow up 80 per cent, influencing how we shop, what we eat, how we spend our leisure time, how much rubbish we generate, even the very look of our physical environment. Award-winning food writer Joanna Blythman investigates the enormous impact that these big box retailers are having on our lives. She meets the farmers who are selling food to supermarkets for less than they need to survive and the wholesalers who have been eliminated from the supply chain; she travels to suburban retail parks to meet the teenagers and part-timers who stack our shelves and reveals the hoops third world suppliers must jump through to earn supermarket contracts. This thought-provoking, witty and sometimes chilling voyage of discovery is sure to make you think twice before you enthusiastically reach for that supermarket trolley again.

Reviews

She probably knows more than anyone else about where our food comes from.' Nigel Slater 'Joanna Blythman has bravely and compellingly exposed the corrosive effect of supermarkets on our farming and our food culture. And she has rightly identified you, the consumer, as the only person who can do anything about it. Don't read it and weep. Read it and change the way you shop.' Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall 'Shocking and powerful' The Guardian 'She'll fire you up with a righteous fervour that may last beyond your return to the mainland.' The Times 'Blythman has provided a compelling wake-up call' Financial Times

Author Bio

Joanna Blythman is Britains leading investigative food journalist and an influential commentator on the British food chain. She has won four Glenfiddich awards for her writing, including a Glenfiddich Special Award for her first book, The Food We Eat, a Caroline Walker Media Award for Improving the Nations Health by Means of Good Food, and a Guild of Food Writers Award for The Food We Eat. In 2004, she won the prestigious Derek Cooper Award, one of BBC Radio 4s Food and Farming Awards. She has also written two other groundbreaking books, How to Avoid GM Food and The Food Our Children Eat. She writes and broadcasts frequently on food issues.