Posts from — October 2009

Yes, A Just Life has now opened a food and drink section. The blog, which is in its infancy, is set up to provide a fabulous selection of yummy recipes, together with information on healthy eating and the politics of food.

If you want to understand why so many people are deprived of food and clean water, why the rain forests are being decimated and how what you eat and how you shop can influence this then bookmark Just Food.

Yesterday my sister and I were shopping in Tesco.  I couldn’t see any Fair Trade bananas and asked one of the staff where they were.  She pointed to one empty box and said “that’s all we’ve got”.  There was shelf upon shelf upon shelf of non-fair trade ones though.

I asked to see the Manager and we spent 5 minutes discussing supermarket price wars and how slashing prices of non-fair trade products is making it harder for people to opt for fair trade. I pointed out that a significant number of people wanted to trade fairly and that Tesco had a responsibility to help them.  He said the way to make that happen is for people to ask.  He gave an example.  A few weeks ago the store had withdrawn a particular brand of bread and 20 people had complained.  As a result the store was now reviewing its decision and they are probably going to restock it.  20 people!  Just 20 people is all it took.

So if you see something wrong, or something missing from the aisles, or something that really shouldn’t be there then take a few minutes to let the store know.  It does make a difference.