I’m joining a food cooperative in the city. It’s all from an ethical supplier at wholesale prices. You send in your order and some nice blokes in a colourful van (who are doing this as a not for profit endeavour) come and deliver it. Brilliant.
I was on board the moment I heard about it. I’m totally fed with shopping in supermarkets, and have gone long periods avoiding them as much as possible. It’s really hard when you live in a city, in a flat with no garden, five minutes walk from the nearest supermarket.
It’s really hard to stick to ethical choices with your food shopping – you are wandering around lifting up a lethargic hungover arm, grabbing a bunch of bananas without knowing the cause and affect of your purchase. It’s a total disconnect from reality.
It got me thinking though – why not more of this? Food cooperatives can be a community endeavour, allowing a group of people to buy good food at a really good price, as well as encouraging ethical suppliers.
If Big Society was a real thing, I think food cooperatives would be quite high at the top of the list I’d put forward. I wander what the options would be to incentivise people to set up a food cooperative? Match funding towards essentials - like food storage facilities? Or even free basic business management courses for those setting up a coop.
Useful link here on setting up a food cooperative.
