So I was in the UK earlier this year and it never ceases to amaze me the sheer quantity of products available in the supermarkets, in Tesco especially. There is usually an entire (really long) aisle dedicated to just sweets and chocolates. Another for cakes and biscuits. There is also an astonishing amount of “TV dinners”, pre-cooked dishes loaded with salt and sugar, everything double or triple wrapped. A health and environmental disaster. And people wonder why the UK population is becoming obese.
However, one nice surprise was this feature in Tesco:
The supermarkets in Spain have not quite reached that level yet. The pre-cooked dishes section in Mercadona is quite modest, and the fresh fish counter is enormous! And the amount of junk food, especially chocolates and sweets, is much less. It seems people are still sticking to the Meditarrenean diet, for now.
One the other hand, identifying where your food comes from can be a challenge. Where are these lemons in Lidl from?
Argentina? Spain? South Africa? Who knows?
I think I’ll stick to the market as much as possible.