The Shopping Flegs
There has been discussion in the blogosphere, and some anger, at the supermarkets' policy of labelling as "British" anything that could conceivably be so called. There are suggestions that this is a deliberate ploy to undermine the independence movement. So, being a good boy who does what he's told, I reacted with anger when I saw the rows of British flags ("flegs" in England) on produce on the supermarket shelves. Then I stopped feeling angry, and wondered whether there really were that many Butchers' Aprons on view. Time to gather some data, it seemed.
Fortunately that was quite easy. I do an online shop roughly weekly, using different supermarkets, so when the order comes in I can simply sit it on the kitchen table and count the flegs. This of course means that the data is dependent on what I've happened to buy that week, and that in turn is skewed by my feelings about flegs anyway. ("Do I feel like paying double the price for eggs that don't say 'British'? What did I do last week? Um...") So the selection of observable items is a bit hit-and-miss, and the data is smudgy and uncontrolled. But it can still tell us something, and anyone who thinks this is boring can at least laugh themselves silly over my delusions as to what constitutes nourishing food.
The markers that were noted for each item were (a) a Union Jack, (b) the word "British", (c) a Saltire, and (d) the word "Scottish". If an item had two markers - a Union Jack and the word "British", or a Saltire and the word "Scottish" - the flag was counted but not the word.
Here are the results from the first two weekly shops:
Morrison's, 14th November 2020
Union Jack: beef mince, broccoli, cream, frozen peas, potatoes, savoy cabbage (6 items).
The word "British": none (0 items).
Saltire: eggs, shortbread (2 items).
The word "Scottish": not counted.
No mark: bananas, blueberries, bulgur wheat, butter, bread, cake, cheerios, coffee, empire biscuits, flour, fruit juice, grapes, halloumi, marmalade, mushrooms, pears, raspberries, salad, sardines, soup (20 items).
Asda, 23rd November 2020
Union Jack: brussels sprouts (1 item).
The word "British": eggs, cream (2 items).
Saltire: mushrooms (1 item).
The word "Scottish": milk (1 item).
No mark: apples, baking powder, beer, bread, cake, chocolate, coffee, corned beef, diced lamb, empire biscuits, fruit juice, grapes, lentils, kidney beans, lemons, muesli, oranges, pasta, pears, prunes, root vegetable pack, salad, sardines, salt, shortbread, wine (26 items).
The most noticeable first finding is that the flegs aren't anywhere near as ubiquitous as the bloggists would have us believe: Morrison's have marked 8 items out of 28 (i.e. 28% of items) and Asda 5 items out of 31 (16%). The second finding is that that's a substantial difference of practice between one supermarket and another, so maybe there's something happening here after all.
The third finding is that the decisions as to which items to mark look distinctly weird. Morrison's put the Jack on anything that grows (including frozen peas!!?), but Asda put it only on Brussels sprouts, which given the name of the vegetable and the political earthquake we're all to undergo on December 31st seems like a colossally incompetent mixing of messages. Asda is also picky about which vegetables are worthy of the Saltire: only mushrooms, it seems. It will be interesting to see whether this pattern continues over the coming weeks.
Shopping lists with fleg-analysis will continue to appear here for as long as they look interesting. The lists of 1st December (Waitrose) and 9th December (Morrison's again) are waiting to be dug out of my notebook and written up. Just keep watching.
Fortunately that was quite easy. I do an online shop roughly weekly, using different supermarkets, so when the order comes in I can simply sit it on the kitchen table and count the flegs. This of course means that the data is dependent on what I've happened to buy that week, and that in turn is skewed by my feelings about flegs anyway. ("Do I feel like paying double the price for eggs that don't say 'British'? What did I do last week? Um...") So the selection of observable items is a bit hit-and-miss, and the data is smudgy and uncontrolled. But it can still tell us something, and anyone who thinks this is boring can at least laugh themselves silly over my delusions as to what constitutes nourishing food.
The markers that were noted for each item were (a) a Union Jack, (b) the word "British", (c) a Saltire, and (d) the word "Scottish". If an item had two markers - a Union Jack and the word "British", or a Saltire and the word "Scottish" - the flag was counted but not the word.
Here are the results from the first two weekly shops:
Morrison's, 14th November 2020
Union Jack: beef mince, broccoli, cream, frozen peas, potatoes, savoy cabbage (6 items).
The word "British": none (0 items).
Saltire: eggs, shortbread (2 items).
The word "Scottish": not counted.
No mark: bananas, blueberries, bulgur wheat, butter, bread, cake, cheerios, coffee, empire biscuits, flour, fruit juice, grapes, halloumi, marmalade, mushrooms, pears, raspberries, salad, sardines, soup (20 items).
Asda, 23rd November 2020
Union Jack: brussels sprouts (1 item).
The word "British": eggs, cream (2 items).
Saltire: mushrooms (1 item).
The word "Scottish": milk (1 item).
No mark: apples, baking powder, beer, bread, cake, chocolate, coffee, corned beef, diced lamb, empire biscuits, fruit juice, grapes, lentils, kidney beans, lemons, muesli, oranges, pasta, pears, prunes, root vegetable pack, salad, sardines, salt, shortbread, wine (26 items).
The most noticeable first finding is that the flegs aren't anywhere near as ubiquitous as the bloggists would have us believe: Morrison's have marked 8 items out of 28 (i.e. 28% of items) and Asda 5 items out of 31 (16%). The second finding is that that's a substantial difference of practice between one supermarket and another, so maybe there's something happening here after all.
The third finding is that the decisions as to which items to mark look distinctly weird. Morrison's put the Jack on anything that grows (including frozen peas!!?), but Asda put it only on Brussels sprouts, which given the name of the vegetable and the political earthquake we're all to undergo on December 31st seems like a colossally incompetent mixing of messages. Asda is also picky about which vegetables are worthy of the Saltire: only mushrooms, it seems. It will be interesting to see whether this pattern continues over the coming weeks.
Shopping lists with fleg-analysis will continue to appear here for as long as they look interesting. The lists of 1st December (Waitrose) and 9th December (Morrison's again) are waiting to be dug out of my notebook and written up. Just keep watching.
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