Food Miles

Here we are in the midst of autumn and the British apple season. You’d expect our supermarket shelves to be teeming with home grown varieties. But no. Is it that our tastes have changed? Or is it that supermarkets only consider a handful of native apples as commercial? It’s a fact that these days you see only a handful of British varieties and then generally only when in season. There are said to be over 2000 native varieties, including Welsh apples, of which only a handful ever gets shelf space.

Of the local supermarkets, Tesco is by far the worst in trunking in apples from faraway places. But they’re not the only ones.

In 2005, Tesco sponsored the Brogdale Horticultural Trust so that Tesco “can establish plans to bring some of the older, heirloom varieties to shoppers—to ensure the enjoyment of these apples is passed on to future generations.” In doing so, Tesco announced plans to double the number of *English* apples it sells, between September 2005 and 2008.

Said a Tesco spokesman at the time, “England has a unique apple history which we believe should be preserved, and if we can do this by reinvigorating peoples (sic) interest in our English Apples [Tesco's capitals], so much the better.”

Varieties stocked/Origin	Tesco	Co-op	Somerfield
Braeburn	France	Germany	Unspecified
Bramley	Britain	Britain	Britain
Cox	Britain	Britain	Britain
Fuji	South Africa	N/A	N/A
Gala	USA	Britain	Britain
Golden Delicisous	France	Italy	Unspecified
Granny Smith	South Africa	France	Unspecified
Pink Lady	South Africa and Italy	France	N/A
Royal Gala	Britain	N/A	N/A