Here are a few things I’ve found myself collecting about Tesco. Thought it was time they all went into one place.
1. That there are similarities between the architecture of churches and Tesco. Here are two photos by Robert Edwards that give a hint of it.
Tescos by Robert Edwards
Church By Robert Edwards
I was recently told that the majority of the cucumbers that we eat are grown in the UK, some of which are just north of Hackney. Where ‘The total area of glasshouses cropped with cucumbers is estimated at around 120 hectares’ Amazing really, the green houses can even be seen from google maps – well what can’t…
My year of meat - Ruth Ozeki
It was written in the 90’s, so I hope a lot has changed in industrial meat production since then. I fear not.
It’s incredibly easy to read and takes you on a journey through America; it’s wives and it’s meat industry. It doesn’t take long to get through, having that feel of a romance novel about it, it uncovers a little of the use of advertising and television to inspire what we cook and eat. In some ways I find it out of context 15 years later. Having seen the BBC series Blood, Sweat and Tractors and the varrious horrors of BSE and foot and mouth, I have a little hope that standards have improved. ‘Our daily Bread’ is still having an impression on me (more…)
Fish Machine
I took James up on his offer and watched ‘Our Daily Bread’ by Nikolaus Geyrhalter.
So very inspirational. No narration, no music, just the sound of industrial food production. It just appeared to be such a different world than the one food is naturally associated with – so relentless.
Scenes of workers fastidiously preparing themselves with latex gloves, white suits and gas masks before spraying the isles of high rise vegetation, followed by shots of bare chested pickers, collecting the bounty in the same still glass house.
Chicks being thrown off conveyor belts onto a production line, standing for a few moments to recover before being thrown off another. Amongst these scenes are lunch and coffee breaks that let you see the people undertaking these jobs on our behalf.
So many details of production, I couldn’t even imagine whilst eating my sandwich. Every element, automated by machines, and accompanied by a repetitive sound of motors, belts and animals. The image above shows a little of a Wallace and Gromit style contraption that slices, chops and vacums a fish in preparation for sale.
The companies and people involved are listed in the ending credits – which reflects the openness of the film.
A beautifully made and highly recommended film.
This is a bit like the videos you watch for GCSE revision. It’s really interesting to see how chickens are butchered and how ready meals are made. Endlessly produced in such sterile conditions, not quite as romantic as the packaging suggests. The carcases they are delivered from the abattoir, already with out heads and guts, bearing very little resemblance to a chicken and are treated like another component. I recommend watching the Triwood1973 YouTube video collection, its great (well… in someways quite horrible) to see the process behind many everyday items.