@rachclarke27Marks & Spencer stops selling ridiculed 'cauliflower steak'
Following an online backlash, Marks and Spencer has withdrawn the controversial convenience food item
Behold the power of Twitter.
Less than two days after Marks and Spencer made headlines for selling a £2.00 slice of ‘cauliflower steak,’ the high street retailer has announced it will scrap the convenience food item.
It consisted of two slices of cauliflower and a lemon and herb dressing, but will be discontinued once current stocks are sold.
The move follows a Twitter storm after user Rachel Clarke posted a picture of the item last Friday.
Rachel tweeted, “Marks and Spencer stores are selling sliced cauliflower as ‘Cauliflower Steak’ with lots of lovely plastic and charging £2 (normally £2.50). A cauliflower costs about 69p from a local veg shop.”
The cauliflower is listed as £2.50 at full price, but it’s discounted down to £2.00 in some stores. A full head of cauliflower costs £1.00 in M&S.
“Once we’ve sold the stock that is currently in stores, we won’t be ordering any more of this product,” a Marks and Spencer spokesperson told BBC Three.
“We work hard to create quick and convenient meals for customers; however, on this occasion we didn’t get it right.”
Earlier this week, social media users had derided the item as “ridiculous” and “wasteful.”
There have been other perplexing convenience foods. The Genuine Coconut company sells £3 coconut water which is housed in a, erm, coconut. The drinking vessel comes wrapped in a plastic-style film. A 'normal' coconut costs about 80p.
In March 2016, shoppers were confused by the Canadian grocery store Sobeys selling pre-halved and pre-peeled avocados costing 3.99 Canadian dollars (£2.37).
One uploaded a picture to Sobeys’ facebook page, writing, “It's been precut, then wrapped in plastic and cardboard. Avocados have their own perfect, compostable, wrapping. Adding packaging to an avocado is strange to say the least."
The grocer responded with a statement saying, “This product was developed for people who might be new to using avocados and for a little more convenience."
For the customers of Marks and Spencer, it's back to whole cauliflowers wrapped in their original leaves.
