I don’t think I’ve ever felt bad for a tomato before. As Gregg Wallace crouches in a greenhouse surrounded by the bright red fruit, he learns how one of Britain’s biggest supermarkets is using scientific tactics to make them sweeter.
These include adapting the temperature to trick the tomatoes into thinking they are dying, resulting in higher sugar content. Sounds stressful.
The description of the experience may remind you of a scene in the Richard Curtis rom-com Notting Hill, in which Hugh Grant goes on a series of dinner dates to distract himself from the pain of loving out-of-reach Julia Roberts.
One of the lucky rebounds is a fruitarian — “We believe fruits and vegetables have feelings so we think cooking is cruel. We only eat things that have actually fallen off a tree or bush” — who declines the offer of a tray of carrots on the grounds that they have been murdered. Seemed ridiculous at the time. Now, hearing about these tortured tomatoes being put through various traumas simply to make them taste better with a burger, I’m warming to the idea.
Wallace, best known as one half of the MasterChef judging duo, is on a mission to explore the inner workings of this country’s supermarkets, discovering how experts and analysts spot trends and move accordingly. So we meet a man removing nitrites (which can cause cancer) from bacon. We meet Tesco’s “head of plant-based innovation”, who is trying to develop a vegan, mushroom-based meal that will appeal to meat-eaters. And we meet a confectioner tasked with taking sugar from chocolate without affecting its treat status.
He is aided in the quest by Nikki Fox, a likeable and enthusiastic documentary-maker. Wallace is a game participant, keen to fill the gaps in his knowledge. As he willingly admits himself when sampling a steak made from fungus, he has “a certain reputation to uphold” as a man’s man, a classic carnivore. But he is nevertheless happy to put aside any preconceptions.
A minor quibble, though: he does go slightly overboard. At times he is almost intolerably loud. During his segment on the tomatoes, for example, he explains that some types have more sugar than a strawberry. He seems absolutely incredulous. Later, he calls the sweetening process “staggering” and “incredible”. In his defence, though, some of the processes are genuinely fascinating, including a warehouse full to the roof with mushroom-clad logs, ready for harvesting for vegan recipes, and the production of seaweed shavings as a healthy — though expensive — salt replacement.
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Overall, it’s interesting to watch the work that goes on behind the scenes at Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s and Aldi as they fight a quietly cut-throat war to attract regular, weekly shoppers — almost like a high-street clothing retailer racing to react to a new colour or style that’s just hit the haute couture catwalk.
Then again, some of the methods seem questionable, such as the duo of testers who head to Spitalfields Market to “borrow” some ideas from small businesses. If we see any of these offerings offered up as ready meals on the shelves, at least there’s now undeniable proof where the corporate machines find their inspiration. It’s not only the tomatoes who’ll suffer, I fear.
Supermarket Secrets airs at 8pm on BBC One on April 10.
