My shop!

Today was tough. I was really struggling after my weekend?s epic cycle and my brain just wouldn?t work. Rather a limitation when I was writing technical stuff that I wasn?t overly familiar with. After work I needed to go shopping.

One of my favourite quotes is ?if you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito? said by HH The Dalai Lama. I use this almost as a mantra because I think it?s so relevant in a globalised world of consumption where it is way too easy to take the path of least resistance. My Ph.D. while only slightly contributing to knowledge taught me that the path of greatest resistance is usually the one where you learn and is most fulfilling one in the end.

So to my Blip today. My shopping. Although I?m not politically active, what I put in my shopping trolley and where I do my shopping is where I can make a little difference. The best marketers in the world are probably the UK?s supermarkets, in which everything is displayed or marketed in a way to maximise profit. Although we may be led to believe that some products are ethical this is rarely the case. What?s ?FairTrade? all about? This term suggests that products without this label are not fairly traded! Loss leaders or two for one offers are usually paid for by the producers/manufacturers, ?baked in store? products usually come from shipped in frozen dough, veg with adequate natural packaging comes in a number of different wrappers.......the list could go on.

I try to be mindful that everything we eat has a story. I like to by food produced with love and care, whether it is a handmade cheese, a loaf of bread or a cucumber. There is no such thing as cheap food because if a supermarket manages to charge a low price, someone along the food chain has to pay the price, whether it is a farmer or a poorly paid factory worker.

That?s why I shop at Unicorn most of the time. Everything is fair trade, packaging is minimal, they or local producers supply most of the veg. Most stuff is organic, few is any products have any artificial additives, added sugar or salt. What?s most unusual is that prices are fair as it is a co-op that charges only enough to cover costs rather than to make a profit. The staff at the tills are genuinely interested in you too. For me, a slight limitation is that it is a vegan store so I have to go elsewhere for milk and cheese and that I have to cycle 15km as a round-trip followed by a train journey. Still, this path of resistance is far more fulfilling than popping into the local tesco and I think the effort is justified.