How much fonio does your family get through in a week and how much will the reduction in price help you?

[noblegiraffe]

The govt have released a list of 125 "everyday essentials" that they plan to cut tax on to help families with the cost of living.

It's a bit of a weird list. Beans, biscuits and chocolate yes, a bit more baffled by the fresh figs, gherkins and plantains. And I had to google fonio.

Aubergines
Avocados
Baked beans
Bananas (fresh and dried)
Biscuits
Boiled sweets
Bread
Buckwheat
Candied fruit
Chewing gum
Chocolate (bulk and retail)
Chocolate bars
Chocolate drink preparations
Chocolate spreads
Chocolate with fruit, nuts or cereal
Citrus fruits (various)
Cocoa paste
Cocoa powder
Couscous
Crispbread
Crisps
Dried apples
Dried apricots
Dried figs
Dried papaya
Dried peaches/nectarines
Dried pears
Fonio
Fresh figs
Frozen fruits
Garlic
Gherkins
Gingerbread
Green tea
Jams and marmalades
Limes
Liquorice products
Margarine
Marzipan and pastes
Mixed dried fruit
Mixed fats and oils
Mixed fruit and nuts
Mixed nuts
Mixed preserved fruit and nuts
Non-alcoholic beverages
Olive oil (extra virgin)
Olive oil (other)
Olive oil (virgin)
Olives (for oil production)
Olives (fresh/chilled)
Olives (frozen)
Other fresh fruits
Other peppers (capsicum/pimenta)
Pickled peppers
Pizzas and quiches
Plant-based drinks
Plantains (fresh and dried)
Prepared vegetables
Preserved beans
Preserved citrus fruits
Preserved tropical fruit
Preserved vegetables
Processed potatoes
Quinoa
Rusks
Soups and broths
Sugar confectionery
Sugar tablets
Sweet peppers
Throat pastilles
Toasted bread products
Toffees and caramels
Tomato ketchup
Tomato sauces
Vegetable oils
Waffles and wafers

1. Yes, it is. And Waitrose. And Tesco's, Asda, Morrison's and Ocado. Along with many, many other shops - I could walk round the corner and buy it from about 20 within a half mile radius - and cooked from another 10 takeaways and restaurants.

2. There are more people of West African origin and ancestry in the UK then there are Jews. Even fewer of Ashkenazi origin. Is it fair that Israeli broccoli certified free from bugs has no additional duty applied to it when fewer people need it? Or that something observant Sephardim could eat over Pesach (as they don't regard it as/avoid Kitnyiot) is subject to duty? There are more Eastern European families and children with at least one parent or grandparent of EE origin than both. I'm kinda fond of gherkin slices and pickled garlic as well as olives and preserved stuffed peppers. Suits me that they could be cheaper, along with a lot of other staples on that list.

3)You have eyes. You can read names on SIMS. You can see in field 5 what first languages and self identified ethnicity a parent has advised applies to their child - it would be pretty worrying if you weren't aware of the origin of children when attainment varies so wildly between groups.

4. You've created a dog whistle for people to come on and make racist comments. I'm assuming that wasn't your intention. Or at least I was before you doubled down on how stupid it is and practically nobody eats grains of non EU origin.

Why are you assuming that everywhere is like where you live and every school is like yours? I don't teach any kids of west African descent and if I did, I still don't think I'd know what fonio is because I teach maths.

I was in Sainsbury's yesterday and actually went to the grains shelf to look for fonio. There wasn't any. It's not sold where I live.

Why do you think so many people on this thread have never heard of it? Are they all racist?

And despite the insistence that this has been a racist dogwhistle thread, it hasn't been. Some people even talking about fonio have said they'd like to try it. How racist of them.

You're assuming every area and school is just like yours in order to mock the removal of tariffs on preserved fruit and vegetables and specifically a West African grain.

You'd also be better off going to the World Foods aisle to find the majority of the items you're complaining about, not the one with puy lentils and Heinz 5 beans in tomato sauce.

This was on the world foods aisle. It's still not stocked.

Nor in Waitrose, no Asda which are my other local supermarkets (just checked online).

I also didn't specifically mock a West African Grain. I said that I had to google something which was on a list of everyday essentials, because I'd never even heard of it. Like a lot of people on this thread.

Stocks are usually low after half term, so don't always show up on websites. However -

Never heard of fonio, but how did I ever manage on today’s prices of figs and marzipan, I’ll never know.

All my COL prayers answered.

So? It's like you're trying to prove that it's sold at my supermarket by showing me that it's sold somewhere that isn't my supermarket. I posted an amazon link you can buy it from earlier in the thread for people who couldn't get it in their local shops.

And still loads of people on this thread have never heard of it.

Honestly, I think suggesting 'you haven't heard of fonio because you're racist' is a losing tactic. Not everywhere is London.

I mean it's not difficult to apply some basic critical thinking, you don't need an economics degree to understand the term import tariffs

I think you need to go back to complaining about the proposed 6.5% pay award over 3 years. It's clearly your stronger subject.

I think it’s interesting that you think ‘fonio’ is a racist dog whistle because you know it’s a West African grain therefore it must be racist. But this thread has not descended into a mess of racist comments (and there are plenty of those on MN and if it was a racist dog whistle thread they’d definitely be here in hordes) because most people don’t know what it is, and either are just interested to find out, or want to talk about the list in general or discuss tariffs.

You can stand down.

A lot of things on this list people are complaining about not being included like lemons, pasta, lots of imported fresh fruit already had tariffs suspended on them

I don't really get the hoo-ha about fonio. No it's not a massively commonly eaten grain in the UK but buckwheat and Quinoa are, and most other things on the list are commonly eaten. Combined with the the food products with tariffs already suspended on them it's a pretty good list of foods.

I said earlier that I was going to leave this and I meant it but I keep thinking about this thread and I would like to complete some thoughts.

I don't think for one moment that @noblegiraffe intended to create a racist dogwhistle. I understand that she happened to choose fonio / acha in the title of her thread because it's the most obscure ingredient on the list for most people in the UK. I don't think that it's a moral failing not to recognise fonio.

I also don't think that I sought to seek offence on this thread. I think I found it an uncomfortable read because the focus on fonio / acha felt like punching down on a community who are significantly more likely to be disadvantaged than comparable white communities (and I know that there are many affluent and influential Black Britons - the leader of the opposition is Yoruba). In my view, on realising this it would be appropriate to acknowledge the unintended connotations and to emphasise that the critique was aimed at the list as a whole, rather than any individual item. It appears that this is not @noblegiraffe's intention and this is her prerogative, but this is contrary to my own view.

The thread is obviously critiquing the list. I posted the list. I'm not sure why I need to clarify that the thread wasn't intended as a racist dogwhistle when it wasn't, and also racists don't seem to have heard the call to arms so it also hasn't acted as a racist dogwhistle either. It's in your head that it's racist, but not in mine, nor in the vast majority of the replies to the thread. People haven't heard of fonio, but when they do, they don't seem to be bothered about the West African bit. I think people in the UK are generally pretty receptive to a wide range of cuisines.

You 'felt like it was punching down'....except it wasn't. You felt like it was a racist dogwhistle, except it wasn't. I'm not sure why you expect me to do anything in particular about your feelings when I think my intentions were obvious. Perhaps you should be pleased that something you thought was going to be racist turned out not to be.

I can’t make my position any clearer. I’m a person who would act if my words had an unintended consequence.

The unintended consequence of not creating a racist dogwhistle?

The way I see it 'you can't say fonio isn't an everyday essential even though most people have never heard of it because that sounds racist' isn't a reasonable objection, and I am prepared to argue the point.

Well, to me the list reads like an ingredients selection for Ready Steady Cook.

I need to start inventing dishes with buckwheat, dried pears and liquorice to combat COL.

It’s not the fonio, it’s the complete randomness of it all.

Liquorice is bad for your blood pressure.

Don't forget the sprinkle of chewing gum and a throat pastille on the side, all washed down with a plant-based beverage.

I was looking forward to that!

No worse than much of Mumsnet

You need to consume quite a lot of liquorice daily before it has a significant effect - around 60-70 grams I think.

Re the weird categories. Don't forget this is multicultural UK. Also the Government are totally out of touch with working people