Continuing my occasional quest for examples of disappointments in supermarkets, I have found a new example of the import-cheap-product-at-all-costs approach to retailing. What do you think I found?

Once upon a time there were no supermarkets. Imagine! Few people who have grown up in Australia have known or remember a life without sheds filled with neat aisles of groceries and the ka-ching! (or bloop!) at the checkout. Some of us now regard supermarkets as fairly evil, but we are still largely dependent on a lifestyle with supermarkets close to the core.

Melbourne is alive with the annual Melbourne Food and Wine Festival. A special event as part of the two-week festival is 'A Taste of Slow', held this weekend. I attended two sessions and came away disappointed, with the feeling that Slow Food is still failing to get its message across or perhaps even to know what its message is. I didn't expect to hear clichés about obesity or endure junk science but that was part of what I heard.

It's three years since I was last in Britain and I was curious to see what might have changed in the food scene. It wasn't hard to miss the popularity of gastropubs, the growth of decent chocolatiers, and the burgeoning enthusiasm for organics. My impressions of markets, new shopping habits and some random bits.