• About|
• Contact|
• Help|
• Login

Food coops

After signing up for the Generous experience at this year’s Greenbelt (2204), I was somewhat apprehensive. Having been brought up in the Brethren, I am by nature suspicious of any form of organised zeal, but I was drawn to the idea of trying to make a small difference along with others making their small difference.

In one of those many disconnected but interesting Greenbelt conversations you have, a friend, Angie, told me about a book which she claimed would change my life. I got hold of the book when we got back to Glasgow – Not on the Label, by Felicity Lawrence. For those who don’t know, she’s a Guardian writer who has investigated the UK food supply chain in some detail, and the book is an indictment of the power of supermarkets to control the entire food chain and an expose of the indirect effects of buying cheap food – on the growers, the pickers, the packers …. and ultimately on us, the consumers. I was so appalled by some of the information she uncovered that I had to try and find ways to avoid the supermarkets.

I investigated the local shops, and increased the organic fruit and veg delivery. But the most interesting discovery was that we had a local food coop. The way it works is that you get a catalogue from a supplier called Green City. You select the food you want from a huge (and slightly unmanageable) selection of dry goods and a smaller range of fresh foods – all the things you would expect to see in a good wholefood shop, including things with unpronounceable names which remain a complete mystery to me! Every 6 weeks or so, you put in your order to the coop organiser, who collates all the orders and takes delivery of the goods. When they arrive we go round to their flat and collect it. The big advantage is that if you register as a food coop you get everything at trade prices. It’s a good way to pay less for organic and fairly traded products, if you have room to store 6 or 12 of everything. We did over-order on the pitta bread first time around, but we are learning what quantities we can cope with.

The book did change my life. I have not eaten chicken since, and have become the kind of fanatic I hate listening to. At the drop of a hat I am prepared to bore my friends and family with horrible tales of how their chicken made its sorry way to their fridge, and when I come to visit they hide their pre-packed salads the way people used to hide their fags!!

I always hated supermarket shopping anyway – they are deeply depressing places, and the food coop is a way of cutting down the number of visits I need to make. The couple who organise ours have not done a supermarket shopping for over 2 years. There are still some things I haven’t cracked – if anyone knows how I can get Shreddies, Weetabix and things for the kids’ packed lunches (which there is a chance they will eat) without going through the gates of hell, I’d be glad to receive suggestions.

There will also be details shortly on the Generous site about the practical details of setting up a coop if anyone is interested in giving it a shot.

Dot Reid

Back to news index

Join the fray by signing in.