Brixton news, rumours and general chat - May 2017

[Ms T]

I don't understand why Iceland do this. People go to get stuff cheap I don't see people queing with frozen avocados.Btw the frozen vegetarian food is high quality and very cheap.

I'm more concerned about crimes against food. And avocados are no longer a luxury item. But Frozen avocados wtf? You can get non-frozen ones fairly cheaply in the market, especially if they're ripe.

 

[editor]

At the Brixton Pound Cafe today - kilos and kilos of fresh fruit and veg (none of it chopped in half and frozen as far as I'm aware). Bring a bag and we'll fill it up for you to take home. We've had a huge amount donated by Franco Manca via the People's Fridge. It needs to be gone before 6pm today...

Let me Buzz that for ya'!

 

[editor]

Tonight!

Join the Bat Walk at the Brixton Windmill Gardens tonight, 9pm, Thurs 18th May

 

[EastEnder]

Avocados are both delicious and nutritious. They should not be seen as fancy food but made as affordable as possible. Big thumbs up to Iceland.

I refuse to regard them as anything more than the worst exemplar of bourgeois upper middle class oppression. They're bought by people who have fondue sets & salad spinners. <shudders>

 

[Ms T]

Well it depends on how many avocado halves are in the bag. Fresh avocados aren't that cheap so if the bag happened to contain the equivalent of, say, six or eight whole avocados then it'd be great value for money; not that different from buying frozen meat when you think about it.

If however they work out not particularly cheaper than fresh ones, then it seems a waste of time to me.

Four apparently (8 halves) and they come ready sliced for your avocado toast.

Coincidentally I had avocado on toast for breakfast - I think I got two "ready to eat" from Lidl for £1.65 so that's not a bad price from Iceland. Especially as there's a world shortage ATM. I still wouldn't buy frozen avocado though.

 

[Ms T]

I refuse to regard them as anything more than the worst exemplar of bourgeois upper middle class oppression. They're bought by people who have fondue sets & salad spinners. <shudders>

Guilty as charged!

Salad spinners are essential if you love salad as much as I do. The fondue set was a gift and comes out once a year for an urban gathering.

 

[T & P]

Iceland should probably stop selling olive oil as well and replace it with tubs of lard. Let's de-gentrify it properly before it's too late.

 

[editor]

There really is a lot of fruit and veg in the Brixton Pound shop!

Free fruit and veg at the Brixton Pound shop today, Thurs 18th May till 6pm

 

[Angellic]

There really is a lot of fruit and veg in the Brixton Pound shop!

Free fruit and veg at the Brixton Pound shop today, Thurs 18th May till 6pm

What happens to anything left after 6pm?

 

[editor]

What happens to anything left after 6pm?

Probably gets binned I imagine. Or maybe they'll be some room left in the fridge. I've Buzzed it, tweeted it to 24k followers and FB'd it, so hopefully it'll all go. I'm guessing someone must have royally over ordered at Franco Manca.

 

[EastEnder]

There really is a lot of fruit and veg in the Brixton Pound shop!

Free fruit and veg at the Brixton Pound shop today, Thurs 18th May till 6pm

I hope it's proper veg and none of that avocado nonsense...

 

[Winot]

I thought that now that Mandelson was out of the picture we had to go back to eating mushy peas? Although thinking about that, that would probably be cultural appropriation

 

[lefteri]

Probably gets binned I imagine. Or maybe they'll be some room left in the fridge. I've Buzzed it, tweeted it to 24k followers and FB'd it, so hopefully it'll all go. I'm guessing someone must have royally over ordered at Franco Manca.

Franco manca did an offer yesterday where if you brought in fresh vegetables they'd give you a pizza, the veg was destined for the food bank - i'm guessing so many people took them up on it there wasn't room for it all in the bank

 

[CH1]

I refuse to regard them as anything more than the worst exemplar of bourgeois upper middle class oppression. They're bought by people who have fondue sets & salad spinners. <shudders>

I was discussing this (Iceland frozen Avocado for sale horror) with a friend of mine of Barbadian heritage.

"What are they going on about" he said " there's loads of avocados for sale in Brixton market - always has been. Its a very popular fruit jn the Carribean. Its not about gentrification at all - its about supplying people with what they want"

So there!

 

[editor]

Franco manca did an offer yesterday where if you brought in fresh vegetables they'd give you a pizza, the veg was destined for the food bank - i'm guessing so many people took them up on it there wasn't room for it all in the bank

I would have brought along a carrot if I knew I could have got a free pizza!

 

[lefteri]

I would have brought along a carrot if I knew I could have got a free pizza!

I came down with a hideous cold and couldn't leave the house otherwise I'd have been there like a shot

 

[lefteri]

I was discussing this (Iceland frozen Avocado for sale horror) with a friend of mine of Barbadian heritage.

"What are they going on about" he said " there's loads of avocados for sale in Brixton market - always has been. Its a very popular fruit jn the Carribean. Its not about gentrification at all - its about supplying people with what they want"

So there!

Yeah Carribean avocados are huge, I once ate some of one that a Jamaican friend had brought back from there. They cost about 2 pounds each in brixton market

 

[editor]

There's a documentary about the bloke on the right of that photo - essentially his emotional breakdown.

He's a unicorn now

 

[Casaubon]

I'm with you on that - Iceland's great for cheap staples, not fancy stuff like avocados. It's like if the shouty man on the green grocer stall on Electric Avenue started selling quinoa...

Iceland's bags of frozen quinoa and mixed veg were really good for emergencies/laziness.
They've introduced a few 'novelty' items in the last few years that I've really liked, but they always discontinue them after a month or two.

 

[editor]

Iceland's bags of frozen quinoa and mixed veg were really good for emergencies/laziness.
They've introduced a few 'novelty' items in the last few years that I've really liked, but they always discontinue them after a month or two.

So long as they continue to offer decent food that's well priced, good quality and free from any pretentious bollocks, it'll remain my supermarket of choice, supplemented by the occasional trek up to Lidl, with Sainsburys for the few things I can't get elsewhere. I still use the street markets as much as I can though.

 

[EastEnder]

So long as they continue to offer decent food that's well priced, good quality and free from any pretentious bollocks, it'll remain my supermarket of choice, supplemented by the occasional trek up to Lidl, with Sainsburys for the few things I can't get elsewhere. I still use the street markets as much as I can though.

Yeah Iceland rocks, always my first port of call for decent basic staples. Although I do find their "luxury" section at the back a bit disconcerting, some decidedly posh stuff in those freezers, it'd better not be the thin end of the wedge!

 

[tompound]

Franco manca did an offer yesterday where if you brought in fresh vegetables they'd give you a pizza, the veg was destined for the food bank - i'm guessing so many people took them up on it there wasn't room for it all in the bank

Yep that's correct.

All gone now, thanks Ed for the plug. Not sure we'll go into this free supermarket business...it was a bit like a Black Friday scramble at one point

 

[editor]

Yep that's correct.

All gone now, thanks Ed for the plug. Not sure we'll go into this free supermarket business...it was a bit like a Black Friday scramble at one point

Hopefully you managed to sell a few coffees and cakes in the melee?

 

[aussw9]

I refuse to regard them as anything more than the worst exemplar of bourgeois upper middle class oppression. They're bought by people who have fondue sets & salad spinners. <shudders>

Baby boomers?

 

[tompound]

Hopefully you managed to sell a few coffees and cakes in the melee?

I'm not sure, I was too busy hiding out the back.

 

[EastEnder]

Baby boomers?

The very worst kind of boomers!

 

[teuchter]

Will the famed cheddar cheese one day be replaced with rows of avocado? I think I can remember when I first saw an avocado. Perhaps the late eighties, or early nineties. It was when they first arrived in Safeways supermarket in Inverness. My mum (who grew up in the tropics) was excited because before then, it was not possible to get such things in the north of scotland. In fact, according to some, any kind of green vegetables were pretty much frowned upon; a pragmatic approach to no-nonsense eating without which we could never have been UK leaders in the fields of heart disease and low life expectancy. Sad to see Iceland now leading its Brixton customers similarly astray.

 

[jimbarkanoodle]

Both customers in front and behind me in ALDI Tooting were stocking up on avocados earlier. no idea how much they were but they must have spotted a bargain

 

[bimble]

That's 4 (skinned and stoned) avocados for 2.50, making them .. 62.5p each fruit. Not bad at all, especially as we're apparently headed for a global avocado shortage due to bad weather in Mexico.
Avocado prices reach record high worldwide
My freezer is about the size of a paperback book but might have to find space for these, am always missing the brief moment of ripeness and chucking them away.

 

[teuchter]

we're apparently headed for a global avocado shortage due to bad weather in Mexico.
Avocado prices reach record high worldwide

It's clear this thread has already caused a rush on the Iceland avocados - but now you've posted this there's going to be full scale panic-buying tomorrow morning. If this coincides with the pavement flashmob happy disco thing ... it doesn't bear thinking about. I'd recommend everyone takes a day off work tomorrow and stays indoors with the shutters closed.