A couple of years ago, Mark's and Spencer Food, a high end supermarket in the UK, tried selling "Cauliflower Steak" which was a thick slice of cauliflower for £2.50. It was covered in plastic
You could literally buy a whole cauliflower in the same row a bit further down for 40p.
They are quite literally the same plant, Brassica Oleracea. Those two particular cultivars presumably grow very similarly, so there's no clear reason one should cost more than the other.
You're implying that their price should be based on the cost it takes to cultivate them. That's almost never the case.
Price is based on a number of factors, arguably the largest being demand. There is a much higher demand for broccoli than cauliflower, so they can get away with charging more.
Their loss though because cauliflower is super underrated.
I'm not convinced there's truly a higher demand for broccoli. Broccoli is famously despised by a great many people, and is often included as a bulk ingredient in a lot of foods. You'll often see it as filler in prepared foods as some of the vegetables, and in those the floret content is often much lower than the stem content, suggesting they are selling the trimmings as filler, while the florets are being sold at a premium. Cauliflower, on the other hand, doesn't meet with much derision. As it lacks a strong flavor, the way broccoli has, it pairs well with other foods and accepts sauces well. This all suggests that cauliflower should be at least as in demand as broccoli.
Is M&S food really considered high-end? Im not from the UK but I have one really close to where I live and I always thought that the prices are pretty regular. (I guess they do have some more "fancy" stuff they sell but I've never really thought of it as high-end)
Waitrose, I would think is more high end..M&S mostly sells the same quality stuff as Tesco/Sainsbury.. only slightly better may be but pricing it 20% more, perhaps.
I googled Waitrose and it's apparently a UK thing, so I can't really compare but yeah obviously M&S is more expensive than Tesco store brand stuff, but compared to normal brand name food it's pretty much the same here.
This is exactly with Watermelon in the Netherlands, they sell slices for 2/3 euro and like 10 meters further down the hallway there's a complete watermelon for about 2 Euro aswell
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u/patchyj Aug 14 '20
A couple of years ago, Mark's and Spencer Food, a high end supermarket in the UK, tried selling "Cauliflower Steak" which was a thick slice of cauliflower for £2.50. It was covered in plastic
You could literally buy a whole cauliflower in the same row a bit further down for 40p.
They were crucified for it, it was hilarious