First it was 'cauliflower steak', now the 'naked onion' is here

People are not happy about these pre-peeled onions wrapped in plastic

It's 'veganuary', and the carnivores among us might be having a hard time transitioning to a non-animal-produce diet.

First there was 'cauliflower steak' and plastic-wrapped ready-to-drink coconuts. Now we have "ready to eat" onions that have been pre-peeled, as spotted by Twitter user Lorna Rees.

Sure enough, the response was swift and fairly brutal, especially as current trends seem to be turning firmly against plastic packaging.

For its part, Lidl explained on Twitter, external that the packaging ensures "the quality and safety of our products and is crucial to minimising food waste". It added, "However, we're also aware of the environmental impact it has so, working closely with our suppliers and industry partners WRAP, we're continuing to reduce the amount of packaging we use and increase use of recyclable materials throughout our range."

Pre-prepared fruit and veg serves a purpose for people with limited mobility, but many argue the 'naked onions' might not even be fit for that purpose.

This comes a week after Marks and Spencer was ridiculed for its latest convenience food item, the 'cauliflower steak'.

Twitter user Rachel Clarke posted a picture of the item on 5 January, which appears to contain half a cauliflower wrapped in plastic.

The item was listed as costing £2.00 – a 20% discount from its usual price of £2.50. With a full head of cauliflower costing £1.00 in an M&S store, the cauliflower steak was four times more expensive than its more ordinary cousin – and that’s at the discounted price.

According to the Oxford Dictionary, external, a steak is “High-quality beef taken from the hindquarters of the animal, typically cut into thick slices that are cooked by grilling or frying.” 

Alternatively, it may be, “A thick slice of steak or other high-quality meat or fish,” or possibly, “Poorer-quality beef that is cubed or minced and cooked by braising or stewing.” 

We wouldn't claim to be Salt Bae, external over here, but having huddled round a laptop to scrutinise the cauliflower steak, we have concluded that it’s highly unlikely to consist of either high- or low-quality beef, fish or any other type of meat.

But what cauliflower steak does share with its meat-based namesake is that it is sliced.

Unsurprisingly, the Twittersphere was not best impressed.

An M&S spokesperson initially told BBC Three, “We have launched a ready-to-cook Cauliflower Steak with a herb dressing as part of our new Veggie range. This is for customers looking for a quick and convenient vegetarian meal option. 

“The plastic tray protects the product and is widely recyclable. We continue to look at ways to optimise our food packaging and ensure it can be widely recycled.”

The spokesperson also stressed that the retailer did not coin the term 'cauliflower steak', with a number of recipes containing the food item doing the rounds in 2017.

However, a few days later, M&S announced it will stop selling the item once the current stocks have sold.

"We won’t be ordering any more of this product," a 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."

These aren't the first perplexing convenience foods we’ve come across.

In March 2016, shoppers expressed their confusion online after finding that Canadian grocery store Sobeys was selling pre-halved and pre-peeled avocados. 

A picture of the item, priced at 3.99 Canadian dollars (£2.37), was uploaded to Sobeys’ Facebook page, external, with the poster writing, “Surprised and disappointed after a friend posted a picture of an avocado for sale at his local Sobeys in Thornhill, ON.

“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.

“This is wasteful and I'm curious about the reasoning for Sobeys stocking avocodo this way? Looking forward to a response. Thank you.”

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.

“It eliminates the guess work when it comes to ripeness and any challenges if you are not familiar with peeling and seeding a fresh avocado."

Earlier the same month, shopper Nathalie Gordon spotted a shelf of $6 (£4.43) oranges at a Wholefoods store in California.

Nathalie uploaded a picture of the items to Twitter, where it went viral, amassing over 200,000 likes and retweets, and leading Wholefoods to apologise and retract the item.

And back in March 2015, individually packaged, pre-boiled ‘Yowk’ eggs hit the shelves, courtesy of the New Egg Company.

The eggs are pre-cooked until they are soft-boiled, and come packaged with pre-cut bread soldiers, salt and a ‘spooth’ – a spoon that contains a plastic 'tooth' to help you crack the shell.

All you need to do to enjoy the £1.49 food item is boil a kettle “for five minutes” and then pour the water over the egg to heat it back up.

In case you’re wondering how long it takes to soft boil an egg from scratch, the answer is five minutes.

Also, a pack of 12 large free-range eggs costs around £2.40 or less from your average supermarket.

How very convenient.

This article was originally published on 9 January 2018.

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