What a waste!

On Sunday evening, I watched Country File on TV and they had a story about the food which is thrown away as a direct by-product of our supermarkets. This included tons of vegetables that were unacceptable to the supermarkets because they were not uniform in shape, size or colour.
One of the examples was purple sprouting broccoli and there was nothing wrong with this, but it would not be accepted because some of it had thick stalks and the rest had thin stalks, so the grower was going to plough it all back into the soil. Another farmer had a huge quantity of cauliflowers which the supermarket would not take because some had dirt in them which was easily removed by turning the cauliflower upside down and giving it a good shake. I wondered if the buyer at the supermarket realised these are actually grown in the ground! Some were considered much too big (ideal for large families though) and some had small areas of damage to the florets.
When one of the presenters spoke to ordinary people and asked them which the supermarket would sell and which they would buy, it was pretty unanimous. Only one person got it wrong (he was a man!) but the rest knew which box would be for sale in supermarkets but they would all have bought the mis-shapen and odd sized vegetables. However, the supermarkets try to tell us that the housewife dictates what they sell but the housewife will tell you they don't have a choice.
Another programme that I watched with my grand-daughter on Saturday was all about rationing in the second world war and because food was very short it was a crime to waste it and you could be prosecuted if you did so. Pity that doesn't apply today!
I was disgusted at the attitudes of the supermarkets, especially when there are people in this world who never have enough to eat yet they are forcing farmers and growers to destroy perfectly good food. Well, from now on I will boycott supermarkets when possible and continue to make my weekly visit to our local farmers' market. At least there I can speak to the people that grow my food, I know that it is absolutely fresh because they harvest it all the day before and it comes from within a fifty mile radius. It may have dirt on it from the field, but I am lucky because I have running water in my house! I also know there have been no pesticides or nasty chemicals used in producing it and what's more, it not only tastes better but it is cheaper too, even if it does come in assorted shapes with a few places where the insects have munched it!