Excellent post.

Another issue is the effect Tesco in particular has on the local economy, the farming sector etc. In the small Scottish town where we live (Castle Douglas), Tesco managed to get planning permission to build a new supermarket. There has been much opposition to it because we have a small Co-Op supermarket, a lot of good family owned butchers, bakers, fish merchants, delicatessans etc whose livelihood will be threatened when Tesco open. Castle Douglas is officially designated a 'Food Town' but a few years down the road when Tesco have closed down a lot of shops this will go.

Yeah, I know, competition, survival of the fittest, everything under the same roof etc, etc but just consider the wider impact of Tesco and all the other stores mentioned on creating Anytown UK, menial employment (the big carrot they dangle is they'll create jobs), forcing prices down so suppliers can't make a profit etc.

When we're back in Melbourne we love going to the Queen Victoria Market for fresh fruit and veg, meat and fish and going to the many Farmers Markets at the weekend. You can keep your M&S etc ready meals, sold at over-inflated prices to time short yuppies. They are never as good as they look on the packaging and usually they don't contain enough to feed a squirrel.

Oh and the Coles New World's and Safeway's I've been in seem reasonably good to me and not much different to Tesco et al. One would expect a wider range in a market 3 times larger number wise and all in an area the size of Victoria though wouldn't one?

I agree that a lack of familiarity may affect the judgement and the fact that someone could feel like crying when re-visiting familiar UK storeland suggests the emotions may be somewhat affecting the judgement?

OzTennis

South Yarra, Melbourne? I though that was one of the weathiest suburbs of Melbourne, full of excellent specialist shops. I recollect a big mall off Toorak Rd?

Excellent point. Small country towns could be facing a similar problem here. Apparantly Wal-Mart have their eye on Australia and they have had a similar effect on small, local businesses in the US. They buy up a huge cheap site, just out of small country towns, proceed to sell EVERYTHING at a slightly lower price than the local competition. All the small businesses, some of which have been operating for generations, eventually fold up because the locals cannot resist saving a dollar here and there.

Eventually what you get is a dead town with a giant Wal-Mart nearby who can then charge what they like. Dick Smith is campaigning to raise awareness of their tactics and ultimate affect on country towns and to try to keep them out.

Of course the solution is to always support the small locally-owned businesses - pay the extra dollar they might charge.

I bet the Australian-American free trade agreement recently signed by Howard contains clauses which will prevent Australia protecting its local economies. The NAFTA is a similar sell-out to the malignant American-based corporates.

Too right!

Wal Mart of course own Asda in the UK. Tesco knocked Sainsbury's off the top spot and now Asda have knocked Sainsbury's off number 2 spot in the supermarket hit parade. Morrison's took over Safeway and are currently at number 4. Sainsbury's tried unsuccessfully to compete on quality at a reasonably price. There can be no denying that Tesco and Asda are cheaper but not many people are prepared to pay that extra bit to get quality or to support local businesses.

"Destroyer Pricing - the aim of destroyer pricing is to eliminate opposition. It involves cutting prices, sometimes greatly, for a period of time, long enough for your rivals to go out of business".

OzTennis

I agree with other posters about Tesco's, Sainsbury's, Waitrose and M&S - in that the ready-made meal options were much better. Especially M&S was excellent at this.

However, now I am - at least for a couple of years - at home, I have no excuse but to cook fresh meals every day - and I can get absolutely everything I need, (except for malt loaf) - I've found the Grape Nuts - so life is good.

It's an interesting point to ponder - i.e. why aren't there the ready-made meal options to the same extent in Australia?

Size of market considerations aside, is it that people prepare their own food more, are fresh ingredients more readily available, is it because people eat out and outdoors more, is it a cultural difference, are food preparers too busy doing other things in the UK?? Answers please on a postcard. M&S aborted their plans to open many stores in Australia partly because of their difficulties in the UK but did they have the answers to these questions??

OzTennis

Someone told me once when I queried why there was so little in the way of frozen food in Australian supermarkets - that traditionally Australians distrust it. They've always had a huge variety of fresh vegetables year-round so no need to buy frozen just to eat some beans (or whatever) in winter. Those giant home freezers never caught on here either for the same reason.

Both Coles and Woolworths experimented in a few ready-meals in selected areas. Out local Woollies Metro had them (Coogee was supposedly a target area - lots of busy young, working types) and I reckon they lasted about two months. Never seen again because no-one bought them. Why would you buy a pre-packaged curry for $10 when you can get freshly-cooked one from the take-away down the road for $6?

I have been living in the US for the last 3 years I find that supermarkets are awful here too. They have tried ready-meals a few times but they are expensive and don't taste good so aren't a success. They have the cheapo frozen ones but not the fresh selections like Tesco and M&S.

I really think that UK supermarkets are the best in the world and I do feel nostalgic every time I am back and go into one. It seems to me that supermarkets here (and probably in Oz) are similar to UK supermarkets 20 years ago. I don't know if that means they will eventually catch up but I don't see much sign of it. I guess you just have to adapt what you buy and make more use of the fresh fruit and veg. Unfortunately I'm a crap cook though..

Tracey we agree re your healthiness comment.... we now have found where to get just about everything... the big difference to us is lack of pre packed/ pre cooked/ pre prepared foods... More things have to be made from scratch not such a bad thing. All the pre done sort of foods weren't around 10-15 years ago in the uk so Aus will catch up i spose.... not that it matters to us personally we are happy with cooking fresher healthier ingredients

I think you're exactly right. I really couldn't justify buying a prepacked meal now - especially since I can cook quite well and have everything at my disposal. It would be nice to have some M&S emergency back-up things in the freezer though - like a few chicken tikka bites etc.

I certainly don't miss spending Sunday morning battling round a Sainsbury's hanger looking at all the sour faces and screaming brats to get my shopping (our local Tescos was next to a chav ghetto so unless you wanted your windscreen smashing or tyres letting down it was best avoided)

The whole ready meal culture in the UK is (and it's just my opinion) down to laziness and the instant everything culture. People would rather throw a plastic tray full of something with less nutritional value than the cardboard packaging into the microwave than spend half an hour peeling some spuds and veges etc and cooking a decent home cooked meal.

Oz definitely has the advantage with it's hugely varied climate that fresh produce is easily available year round instead of having to import everything which means a/ It's fresher and b/ It's cheaper.

I don't think there is a lot over here you can't get readily in the supermarkets, maybe you don't have five brands to choose from but hey!.....

Again the laziness thing rears it's head, people over in Oz tend to shop more like we used to in the UK by going to different shops for their groceries, whereas in Blighty everyone wants to go to one oversized warehouse and get everything in one go. (Probably because shopping is such a chore when it's so crowded).

Our local shopping centre is nothing flash but has an amazing butcher, decent greengrocer, two bakers, a coles etc etc. Doesn't take much longer to do a decent shop and as someone mentioned above my shopping trolley is a lot healthier than it ever was back in England.

I never had a microwave before I moved over here (and only have one now as 'The Good Guys' chucked one in the deal when I got here and had to buy fridge, telly, hoover etc etc - and it only gets used for defrosting fish for the cats to eat occasionally).

As for shops like M&S yup there really isn't anything similar here but judging by the standard of their products I bought in the last few years it's no great loss, overpriced and overrated most definitely.

It's possibly a 'bloke' thing, I don't miss M&S knickers (well not that I'd admit in public anyway ), I don't miss Boots skin care/cosmetics/hair care products so it's not a big thing for me personally, as with everything it's horses for courses and if you're already feeling homesick as someone mentioned above then it's those small familiar things you take for granted that can become very noticeable.

As an Aussie, living in Belfast... I have to say some that supermarkets in general have been quite a surprise for me. Let's begin with that wonderful old staple, the potato. One could be forgiven in thinking that Ireland and Northern Ireland would have a decent selection of potato's given their main industry is agriculture. But no! Isn't that wyrrd! I mean, this is Ireland for gwads sake! The potato in Ireland is a practically historical icon! In Oz I can buy up to 20 different types, depending where I shop... but here I can find only three different varieties in the major supermarkets and two of them are imported from Portugal and Cyprus! Importing potato's INTO Ireland? HUH? And the Irish variety is more expensive than the imported. HUH?

There's a farm near where we live... their fresh green beans are picked, boxed and exported to Poland for cleaning, packaging, labling and pricing. After 8 days... the beans are sent back to Northern Ireland and placed for sale in the Sainsbury's... that is directly across the road from the very same farm!

85% of the the fruit I can buy in Northern Ireland is imported. 75% of the vegetables... and that's the same, across the board for the entire UK according to the British Gov statistics. I'm all for trying the local foodstuffs but what's 'local' (?) when the fish comes from Norway, the lamb from NZ, the beef from Scotland or Europe, the potato from Cyprus, mushrooms from France and salad ingredients from Spain. Ok, so the Spanish salad ingredients ARE fresh (two days old counts are fresh doesn't it?)... but pre-packaged ones are filled with a gas that plumps up the bag and once opened reacts to the air so to make the 'fresh' ingredients break down faster. Am I actually eating anything in this country (apart from the ULTRA fabulous strawberries) that's actually fresh? A fishmonger here told me that his scallops were "kinda fresh" and added that the scallops in the UK and Ireland are injected with water, frozen then thawed to pump up their size. Geeze that's a neat trick isn't it... fooling the customer into thinking their scallops a big, juicy with loads of meat on them. Asking politely where the lamb came from in a local resturant, the chef stormed out of the kitchen to upbraid me until I explained that I didn't come all the way from Australia just to eat Aussie lamb, or I might add, drink Aussie wines.

There's a place just outside Point Cook, Melbourne where I used to purchase my fresh fruit and veggies. They still had the dirt on them... as they were picked fresh that morning and sold by the people who did the picking. The same goes for the Victoria Market and Prahran Markets with produce coming direct that morning from the Werribee market gardens. In the UK, the ready meals are beautifully presented but so expensive, one might as well not bother... and what's the point in buying them when the nutritional value is practically zero and the ingredients all come from Honduras. I'm buying stuff now from those wonderful road side traders when I can find them... because for all their glitz and so called convenience, I'd rather have my food "fresh" from them or at home... from Coles or Safeway and not week old produce from Sainsbury's or Tesco.

Yep, Iolair, that's globalisation for you, combined with a crazy EU food policy, and significant supermarket monopoly purchasing leverage. What you need to look out for are farmers' markets which are increasingly common now, you can get absolutely excellent produce there. Also the price you pay there goes directly to the farmer: the supermarkets are notorious for crushing down the price they pay to farmers. They must be a dozen or more farmers' markets in London, at least. However, they are not so common in the less well-off areas of the country unfortunately.

Gotta say, now I'm back in pommie land, I'm missing Target and k-mart!!