Interview - Joanna Blythman - Friends of the Earth Scotland

Interview - Joanna Blythman

“at a very fundamental level Britain has a very troubled relationship with food and that it’s got even worse of late”

Joanna Blythman is an investigative writer on food

What has been your inspiration for scrutinising the food industry?
I think my inspiration first and foremost is that I really like good food.
Food is one of the greatest pleasures in life.

When was the last time you were in a supermarket?
I shop in a supermarket maybe every 4-6 weeks. I go when I run out of things
like toilet roll, dishwasher salt, really tedious things.

How is your anti-supermarket campaign received?
It’s very well received. I’ve really noticed that the anti- supermarket
argument resonates with a much wider audience now.

Do you think there’s any hope for small growers?
I think it’s very very tough. I interviewed a potato grower in Ayrshire and
he explained to me that in the early 1990s they used to have about 25
different big customers; different co-ops, different independent grocers,
small chains; and he says now they only have four and they are all supermarkets.

Do you think there is a bias towards ‘foodies’ in this country. If so, why?
In Britain if you read a newspaper or a colour supplement at the weekend you
really get the idea that we are a nation of ‘foodies’ - highly
sophisticated, cooking complicated meals, and we give each other blowtorches
for Christmas. A lot of that is an edifice and I think at a very fundamental
level Britain has a very troubled relationship with food and that it’s got
even worse of late. There is this reactionary attitude in Britain that if
you’re interested in food that its somehow elitist or pretentious.

Your favourite Scottish dish?
Scotch broth. The way my grandmother made it with cheap cuts of lamb shank
and bone.

Which companies or businesses do you go out of your way to boycott?
Tesco, McDonalds, KFC and I would never drink Coke or Pepsi or any of the
major American junk food brands. I avoid everything to do with Nestle and I
won’t buy produce from Dole because of their record with labour abuses in
their producer countries. I don’t go to Starbucks and anything to do with
old Bernard Matthews would not be on my shopping list.

When was the last time you ate a ready meal?
The first ready meal was the Vesta chicken curry and I thought it was really
really exotic. I used to plead with my mother for one. One night she was
going out and she asked me what I wanted for dinner. I said a Vesta chicken
curry. There was this sad little pile of rice and stuff in a plastic tray
and it tasted disgusting as she said. And it was like the penny dropped.
That kind of food was not for me.

Which country do you think has the best cuisine?
Italian food I’m very fond of. What I like about it is it’s much more
rusticky and peasanty and sort of centres on home cooking which I think is
what good food really should be. It shouldn’t be a rarified thing to do with
chefs and posh restaurants. It should be about the quality of food and what
goes on in domestic homes every day of the week.

If you were First Minister for a day what would you do?
I’d ban ‘Scotland has the best….anything’. To put yourselves at the centre
of any universe shows a lack of imagination and experience. So I would like
Scotland to take the attitude that it’s an interesting small country but
that it can’t be complacent and smug and has to learn from other countries
and stop playing the tartan ticket.

Your worst environmental habit?
Flying, which I realise I absolutely have to do something about. I can see
that that’s just not sustainable and we really have to face up to the fact
that if we don’t reduce the number of flights it’s really not people like me
that will suffer so it’s morally unjustifiable.

You once noted in ‘The Guardian’ that all women weren’t partial to beer, why
do you think that is and did many women contradict you?
I never said that. I said beer wasn’t popular for women as a drink. I did
have lots of people jumping down my neck and an organised campaign from real
beer people. I think real beer’s great. Where I deviate is the idea that
beer is something that you drink with food. I think it’s too heavy, too
gassy and it’s too much of a meal in itself.

Joanna Blythman is an influential commentator on the British food chain.
She's the Sunday Herald's food critic, with four Glenfiddich awards for her
writing. Her groundbreaking books include ‘Shopped’, ‘Avoid GM foods’ and
most recently ‘Bad food Britain’.

Interview by: Alex Bunten and Annie Nettleton

JOIN US

Working for positive change...

GET ACTIVE

Get involved with our campaigns

Free e-newsletter