Mind the bandwagon

Alright, I'll come clean: I'm one of those slightly snobby middle class types who tries to buy organic food wherever possible. This isn't because I'm conviced it's better for you or because it's not doused in chemicals that will make my spuds shrivel up or my hair fall out (or whatever it is they do), I buy it because, to me, it tastes better. Yes, really.

As I've mentioned before in a slightly elongated rant about supermarkets, most of the fruit and veg varieties stocked by supermarkets tends to be chosen for their high yields, long shelf life and uniformity of appearance and not for flavour or quality. Organic varieties, however, tend to be more flavoursome in my opinion and the same goes for milk - organic is far better than the ordinary homogenised stuff. With meat, I'm not so fussed but I will buy free-range rather than ordinary stuff. Yes, I know I'm being stung for it but hey, that's my choice.

So it was with interest tonight that I spotted an organic chicken korma ready meal in Sainsburys. I realise that a korma is pretty feeble but I just didn't fancy a spicy dinner tonight. Now I know ready meals are generally crap, full of fat and bad for you in every way, but this one was an organic product at a premium price so I assumed it would be OK. Oh dear. That was mistake numebr one. Mistake number two was actually eating it once I'd seen it. Granted, the sauce was edible although it was riddled with chickpeas, something that, while I have no overt dislike of I'm not terribly fond of either, but the real shock was the chicken. Or at least I think it was chicken. It might have been cat. Either way, it was absolutely vile and I just couldn't eat it. It's a shame that the premium price didn't extend to getting you some premium meat.

Anyway, the upshot of all this is that once again I have been given a solid reminder that ready meals are universally shit and I should know better. It's just a shame that some company is rather crassly jumping on the bandwagon and palming off a rather inferior product on unsuspecting consumers. Not that it's unusal by any means but still - be wary of buying something just because it says it's organic. So is gangrene, technically speaking, and you wouldn't buy a pot of that now, would you?