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Waitrose MD Mark Price may well have been expecting a cosy chat about the partnership's fine food ranges when he agreed to participate in the Real Food Debate at the recent London Real Food Festival.
However, he faced accusations of becoming a "tough" retailer - and even had to defend celebrity chefs.
Delia Smith's How to Cheat at Cooking received a pasting from food consultant Henrietta Green, who accused the chef of "reneging on all the quality arguments", and accused her of a "betrayal" by using tinned mince.
Price told the audience: "I am surprised at the reaction to TV chefs, they have really helped to bring a greater appreciation of food".
Green, however, claimed that a lot of TV cookery programming was "gastro-porn", bemoaning what she saw as the English attitude of 'I'm being hoodwinked if I'm paying more money for food'.
"Often there is a very good reason why something will cost a lot more. I don't think people know why," she said. "I'm not sure that more, [in terms of selling produce from all parts of the world] means better," she added.
Price argued: "I don't think our 1,200 small producers would agree", although there were some dissenting voices in the audience.
Has the number of customer complaints about the price of goods increased recently?
