AIBU to expect a supermarket checkout person to know what an aubergine is?

[thomsc]

That it is a VEGETABLE and that it starts with an A?

I mean... ok, perhaps you might not know what an aubergine is, but her next question (whilst holding it) was "is it a vegetable?"! No, it's a type of biscuit!

She then said she couldn't deal with it as it didn't have a barcode. When I suggested that she weighed it and told the till what it was, she looked under 'O' in the list of vegetables.

AAAAARRRRRGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH

Duchesse - I can assure you, as someone who did work in a checkout as a student that aubergines are not sold daily.

I presume from your lack of knowledge of this area that you have not, in fact, ever worked in a supermaket on the checkouts?

Scienceteacher- I buy about 4 of them a week in summer and about three times in the winter (bad, bad food miles). I probably buy more than the average but can't believe I'm freakish in my aubergines purchase habits...

I was buying leeks in a Co-Op the other day, and the lad asked me what type of fruit it was.

I said it was a veg, a leek, part of the onion family and what did he eat?

He said no fruit or veg ever passed his lips. But he ate spag bol "Aha! What about the tomatoes?" said I. "And the onions"

He said his Mum made him spag bol with tinned toms, and that's all he ever ate.

I suggested he tried a leek, as it was sweeter in taste than an onion.

It seems there's a lack of knowledge among school leavers.

I'm not absolutely not judging the checkout lady mentioned in the OP. I am judging the people who always wade in and try to make every food issue into a class war. I agree that it is not an income issue but a knowledge and social capital issue- that's what I said in the first case. I do loathe it when people wade and claim it as their birthright to eat junk as though being obese and/or in poor health due to poor eating were a badge of honour. There is enough information available out there to anybody who will look for it for people not to have to live on takeaways, frozen pizza and ready meals. I repeat, again, that eating such stiff routinely has nothing to do class or income as there are plenty of higher income families where no cooking happens. I just don't think it's at all cool, and it certainly isn't a class issue. Class is used too often as a trump card to get people who are perceived as middle class do-gooders to back off.

I've seen too many children's educations wasted because they were deemed to be doing OK for their income level, as though having a lower income meant that your aspirations were automatically lower. I grew up in 7th hand clothing in a house with no heating or running water (we had a well) before anyone accuses me of being out of touch. It's about poverty of aspiration, not poverty of income. And class has bugger all to do with it.

just asked dh how many aubergines would be sold in our local supermarket on average in a week. he said they sold about one a day. so i guess not every supermarket checout-operater would see one on a daily basis.

There. The Mystery of the Number of Aubergines One Could Realistically Expect a Checkout Operator to See Daily has been solved. So really there was no need at all for the original post or the nasty sneering which followed.

I completely agree that food is about more than just class, but income and access to fresh food is tied very closely to food poverty. That is a completely separate issue from the OP and whether or not it was amusing for her to look up an aubergine under O.

"Ridiculing anyone for not knowing something you know because you're better fed, better educated or have a more diverse diet is bad taste". Agree with that, HW.

I can imagine that the big middle class Sainsburys I go to would handle quite a fair trade in aubergines. But the smaller neighbourhood Iceland would not stock it at all. If the supermaket only sells one a day, not much point in stocking it as it is perishable.

Three a minute, HedgeWitch? Or one every three minutes? They couldn't be buying much in 20 seconds, so I doubt aubergines would feature highly!

3 customers a minute? That's 20 seconds each. Surely not!

Exactly, Hedge, and as I said earlier, those who have sneered have come out of this looking a lot worse than the checkout operator.

I get the 'look down upon the checkout girl' vibe in the OP. But isn't it truly shocking that such ignorance exists in this day and age of plentiful food? Why didn't she know what an O aubergine was? Why hadn't she tried some at school or at home? TBH I bloody hate them and my children, having never been served them at home, would recognise one as they have had them at school and they're 6 & 5!

Who knows why she didn't know how to spell it? Who knows why she hasn't tried them? My children don't have plantain or lychees, but do have aubergine (well, they eat around the aubergine as they don't like it), but the point is, so what? Perhaps her parent's don't like them so she doesn't get them at home. Perhaps she does get plantain. Who knows? The point is - it is not mannerly to sneer or laugh at other people's expense.

I honestly don't think that not knowing what an aubergine is is the epitome of ignorance - as misdee said, supermarkets do not sell that many a week, so it's not a common vegetable/fruit/whatever.

I just had this telephone converstation with my mum:

me: Mum, i ve just realised that i had a 'middle class' upbringing

my mum: no darling, we were refugees and very poor

Me: but we ate augergines every day! according to mn it is a matter of class

My mum: we ate them every day because they were the cheapest food in the country i brought you up.

As i said in the other thread, different people from different parts of the world, multi-cultural uk and all that.

Divinie, it is more shocking and ignorant that you cant see this. Did the girl had written on her forehead that she went to british school?

I got charged for 3 lemons once in Tesco's when I had actually bought 3 grapefruit, or should that be pamplemousse?
I was a bit surprised that the girl didn't know a grapefruit when she saw one as I'm sure they've always been common enough, whatever about aubergines!

I too work in a supermarket. I am no longer on the checkouts but have 'fond' memories of produce recognition tests and scanning performance rates.
I once had a conversation with a customer in the produce department that went something like this ....
Customer holding up an aubergine, "what would you do with this?"
Me, "Put it back."
Customer "Why?"
Me "They're horrible! A lot of people like them though, you could try roasting it I suppose and traditionally they are used in mousakka. I believe they can be very bitter if you don't salt them first." I then went on to explain the salting process. She came back the following week to confirm that I was indeed right and they are horrible!

Don't start the whole scanning perfomance rates please. 21 items per min minimum including doing a lot of packing for customers is not fun and I am dreading it!

I worked in sainsbury's when I was at school and I clearly remember somebody having a butternut squash and I didn't have a clue. I was SO embarrased so I just feel sorry for her TBH. And our tills were in so many different sections (different types of vegetables etc) that it was so hard to find an item you were not familiar with. And also, you are put on the spot, so you can't think clearly.

And some things you might think are veg, are fruit which is what she probably meant

duchesse, I don't see how your comments about people growing their own food in France are applicable to recognising an aubergine.

I would expect British people to recognise vegetables that have a history of being grown in the UK.

Also, children and young people who still live at home will gain their vegetable knowledge from home-cooked/home-served meals. It is easy to just gloss over the large variety of food in supermarkets if you have a mental note of just looking for potatoes, carrots, broccoli etc.

SOmething has to happen to bring someone's attention to the unknown. Like working in a supermarket. So the young woman in the op will soon learn her veg from her fruit.

pointy- if we were only going to consume things actually traditionally grown in the UK in medieval times (although there were extremely expensive imports available such as pepper or oranges even back then), then we'd be eating only turnips and cabbage. No potatoes, no carrots, no tomatoes, etc... as they are all imports. They seem completely ordinary now, but were non-existent in the UK until a few hundred years ago. A much more varied diet is a real possibility nowadays, but one that a great many people do not advantage of.

The point about France was to illustrate that if we have a divide in the UK, it is not widespread in the world, as most poor people throughout the world have a far better idea than in the UK where their food comes from. If this food thing were a monetary poverty issue, you'd expect it to affect other developed nations in similar ways, but it doesn't. Apart from maybe the US.

Incidentally, has anybody else on here read "Bad Food Britain"? Would be glad to hear your thoughts on it.

Bitoffun - not Rory the barman, was it?