I don't do disco, I won't do Tesco

click here to read Paul N. Davis's campaign "Turtlesco"

For the past two days, the LA Times has run articles on a new grocery store coming to California from the UK. Tesco is a giant grocery store chain, akin to WalMart, with stores all over the world. I asked a few friends from the UK & Scotland what Tesco was, and one gentleman came to my blog to inform me about something the LA Times reporters missed.

It seems they left out an important part about Tesco's practices in China of providing live sea turtles for consumption and slaughtering the animals alive. This inhumane practice has been protested by many in the UK, as well as their elected officials (MP's).

While I think a lot of us are into locally grown foods, I think too many people are too happy to accept an "organically" grown product regardless of wondering where it comes from, and the larger picture of how the company works in order to make a buck. Frankly, I'd rather have a year-round farmer's market, a good local butcher, and a good fishmonger than a Tesco. I'd rather have people cook food than buy and eat junk all the time.

And I have to wonder: Why was this left out? Why didn't they put it in? Why run TWO gloating stories about Tesco comparing only prices (they looked at the cost of chicken breasts at Albertsons vs. Tesco), when in the past, the LA Times has been very critical (and rightfully so) about chains such as WalMart? Were they sucked into the "Fresh and Easy" or "Organically grown" marketing pitch? Remember, "green" isn't always "green."

To this reader, it would appear that they did.
Maybe David Hiller can tell us why.