Have you ever had a cauliflower “steak?”
Well, you can't buy one at Marks & Spencer now. The United Kingdom-based retailer pulled the product after consumers took to Twitter to criticize it for being wasteful, expensive and a bad use of plastic.
Marks and Spencer stores are selling sliced cauliflower as ‘Cauliflower Steak' with lots of lovely plastic and charging £2 (normally £2.50). A cauliflower costs about 69p from a local veg shop. ? pic.twitter.com/v9ocsIAB0R
— Rachel Clarke (@rachclarke27) January 5, 2018
An M&S spokesperson told the BBC:
“We work hard to create quick and convenient meals for customers; however on this occasion we didn't get it right.”
Priced at £2, about $2.75, the pack included two steaks and a packet of lemon herb drizzle, the product doesn't seem like a bad idea to me.
In fact, I've seen a similar item at Wegmans, of all places, without the outrage. It's innovative. It's a new use for cauliflower, and it even included the seasoning. How is this a bad value?
Brits complained that the cauliflower itself would cost half the price, but maybe their cauliflower is a lot cheaper than it is here.
Value in value-added
This isn't the first time I've seen social media outrage bully a retailer into dropping a perfectly good, perfectly justified food item.
Remember when Whole Foods got called out for easy-peel mandarin oranges in its value-added section? I went to bat for the retailer – and MANY like it – for this particular product because it's not only a good way to reduce food waste (as many retailers would toss a bag of clementines if one was damaged because of lack of profitability and shelf space for single piece fruit), it's also an accessibility issue.
A Bristol Farms produce manager once told me that they have a lot of retirees in their stores in places like Palm Desert, Calif., and the peeled mandarin option is helpful for them.
This is a case where not everyone sees the value-added. They're just seeing plastic, and I get it.
Really, I get it.
I cloth diapered my kids. I use stainless steel straws. I use unpaper towels and cloth napkins – I am all about reducing unnecessary waste.
Packaged produce can often seem like a waste of plastic…if there's no explanation.
I regularly see items like packaged zucchini and yellow squash sold alongside bulk displays. Consumers gravitate toward the bulk, even though the packaged is in better condition because the pouch bag protects the squash and extends shelf life.
A wrapped seedless cucumber maintains its freshness way longer than unwrapped.
Field-packed lettuce stays fresher longer than bulk heads.
Oftentimes, it's a case of choosing the option that affords me less eco-guilt. I abhor the amount of plastic that's going into the waste stream. Most of it isn't actually getting recycled, either, despite my faithful every-other-week offering to curbside recycling.
But, I also loathe wasting food.
We're going to have to come to terms with our over dependence on plastic in this society … soon. Another UK-based retailer, Iceland, has just committed to eliminating plastic in more than 1,000 private label items.
Managing director Richard Walker told The Guardian:
"The onus is on retailers, as leading contributors to plastic packaging pollution and waste, to take a stand and deliver meaningful change."
The company already removed plastic straws, and is turning to paper-based food trays.
For now, I'm doing what I can to reduce unnecessary usage while enjoying the benefits of value-added packaging for fresh produce.