Janet shuns supermarkets

Date Published:

13/09/2007

Janet Street-Porter loves to talk about food. And she was doing a lot of it for series 3 of the F Word. She tried to convince race goers in Newmarket to eat horse burgers and started a debate about whether force feeding geese to make foie gras was morally correct. In a series of exlusive features, Janet tells us what she really thinks about eating out, eating meat and eating ethically.

Supermarkets are ever present on the high street today, but are these giants of food produce really improving what we can buy? Janet tells us it’s not about the big names, but keeping it local…

What I hate about supermarkets! I loathe the way that they sell bundles of fruit and veg so you end up buying twice as much as you need and it goes mouldy before you can eat it. I hate the fact that a huge number of the new out of town stores have acres of car parks around them - when will they be forced to put parking underground? They say they are becoming more environmentally aware - but there is still 100 per cent too much packaging, even swedes get covered in shrink-wrap. I try to only buy cleaning products and wine in supermarkets, but sometimes when I am pushed for time, there's no option.

As an alternative, I love the food market in the Old Goods Shed in Canterbury, Kent. It sells both locally grown vegetables from farms in the area, as well as interesting wild mushrooms collected from the woods nearby. The cheese stall only sells British products, and the meat is all clearly labelled as to its origin, making it easy to buy local lamb and beef. The cafe there is excellent - the chef makes all his dishes using ingredients he's sourced within the Goods Shed. There’s also an Italian baker that makes delicious breads and pies.

A bit further down the road, just outside Faversham, there's an incredible shop called Macknades, which is an Aladdin’s cave of good stuff. There’s a great selection of vegetables, as well as a huge range of cheeses, pastas and rice. He also has great bags of discounted veg for a pound! I buy a couple of of bags, tip them in a roasting tin, dribble with olive oil and some sugar, add some torn up basil or parsley and leave in the oven on 150˚C for two hours – a great pasta sauce or a base for soup. If you like it a bit smoother, you can easily pull the skins off with your fingers once it’s cooled down enough.

Wherever I am I always love to shop locally, you can get some great and different food. I recommend trying the butchers for locally made pies and sausages, delicious!

Yours

JSP.

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