Imagine if you could pick up some fuzzy, live, laying chicks along with a wheel of Brie and a gallon of milk at your local grocer. Well, for those in the U.K., imagination has morphed into reality. Tesco, the world's third largest retailer and the leading U.K. supermarket chain, is now offering live chickens for sale, along with land allotment rentals. Allotments are basically small spots of land that nearby residents may rent out for a nominal fee and use to grow vegetables and flowers. Imagine if Wal-Mart championed such a cause here at home! Perhaps they'll follow Tesco's lead and realize that the growing interest in food self-sufficiency reflects a shifting lifestyle change for many, not merely a trend in the vein of chia pets or miniature pot-bellied pigs (not that I don't love chias and little pigs).
an interesting step by an influential retailer that shows how big this movement really is.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea!
ReplyDeleteIt's always great when a mulit-million-dollar organization such as Tesco take a step in the right direction! In my home country of Malaysia, it's still common practice in the villages to rear and 'harvest' your own chickens. Even in the wet markets in the cities, shoppers can choose between a normal stock-bred chicken or free range ones that are reared naturally in the villages without all the hormones. I sincerely hope this initative by Tesco will pick up.
ReplyDeleteIt is a great idea but I find it hard to see Tesco as championing the cause when they refuse to stop selling eggs from battery chickens. They have been getting huge attention in the british press for their egg policy and I can't help but feel that selling chickens and allotments is their way of deflecting attention from the whole egg issue.
ReplyDeleteGood point, Peonies and Polaroids. It will be interesting to see if having a spotlight shined on their activities results in beneficial changes all around, for consumer and supplier (in this case, the chicken) alike.
ReplyDelete