SUPERMARKETS have brought the world into our shopping trolley. Beans from Zambia, tomatoes from the Canaries, jam from France, avocados from Israel and disgusting breakfast cereals from America. The world, as Arthur Daley once famously said, is our lobster.

Except for our immediate neighbourhood.

Once upon a time, we shopped locally and a large proportion of what we bought was grown and produced locally. Not any more.

Now most of us shop at supermarkets where most of the items on the shelves are the same in Darlington, Dundee or Dulwich.

But there is a hint of a change.

The big supermarkets have spent years thinking globally, but now, fed up with their role as the big, bad villain in the shopping drama, have started to shop locally too.

They are working with small local suppliers who would find it impossible to supply the entire chain but who can supply one or more stores on a local or regional basis.

This gives a small local flavour to supermarket branches and gives smaller producers a chance to try the supermarket way of doing things.

It does the supermarkets' images no harm, either.

WHEN the big new Asda opened in Bishop Auckland recently, manager Dave Bur was determined to have a local taste on show.

"There is an excellent organisation of local producers called Northumbrian Larder and we dealt with suppliers via them, which made it easier," he says.

This means that you can now buy in Asda some of the splendid Jenkins and Hustwit fruitcakes which are made just a couple of streets away.

Among other local products sold in the Bishop Auckland store are Elliotts eggs from Bishop Auckland, Broom Hill Farm sausages from West Auckland, Fentimans ginger beer from Newcastle, Lindsifarne wines and ice cream from Doddingtons Dairy, in Northumberland.

Meanwhile, down the road in Asda in Hartlepool, they have pork pies, pease pudding and faggots from Newboulds in Middlesbrough; Manor Born sausages from Thirsk, and pies and flans from Tindale and Stanton in Newcastle.

They also stock Angel Ale from the Federation Brewery in Gateshead, as well as two beers - Celebration and Trophy - from their Hartlepool neighbours Camerons.

And what's more, as soon as they're available, you'll be able to pick up a football strip with your groceries, as Asda will be selling football shirts and other memorabilia from its neighbours Hartlepool United, the only retailer in the town to do so.

YOU can tell you've moved south when you get to Tesco in Northallerton because the ice cream is no longer from Northumberland but the Yorkshire Dales.

"We try and do some things locally," says manager Elaine Edgerton, "both with sponsorship and by stocking local products."

As well as the ice cream, they also have Manor Born sausages from Thirsk and lots of Wensleydale Cheese from Hawes. "We also have Black Sheep beers from Masham, but that's a local product that goes all over the country," says Elaine.

THE Co-op doesn't have individual store relationships with local producers, as all its buying is done centrally, but many products are supplied regionally and sometimes nationally by local companies. Holmefield Farm in Seamer supplies free range eggs, Lazenbys in Thornaby supplies most of the Co-op's own brand sausages and its own dairy, Associated Co-operative Creameries in Whitby, makes and supplies over 100 lines, including yoghurt, cottage cheese and organic milk.

AT Sainsbury's in Durham, they're big on things like pease pudding and stotties. They have Lazenby's sausages and are about to take pork pies, Scotch eggs and pease pudding from Newboulds in Middlesbrough.

Meanwhile, Sainsbury's in York has Yorvale ice cream from Harrogate and a range of biscuits and confectionery made in York.

"We're the only Sainsbury's to sell these and we have a full-size display of them. They 're very popular with local people but also with tourists," says manager Ian Harrison.

SAFEWAY says that selling local produce is an important part of its strategy and certainly seems to do this in Scotland with both meat and vegetables - all beef sold at meat counters in Scotland, for instance, is Scottish beef. There are successes with West Country fish, Welsh lamb, Cornish vegetables and Kent apples. Up here, local produce seems a bit thinner on the shelves. However, Safeway makes a big effort with Wensleydale cheese, stocking a range from the Wensleydale Creamery in Hawes including mature and smoked Wensleydale and cheese with ginger, apricots and chives. It says it is keen to do more, so it might be worth would-be suppliers approaching stores directly.

LOCAL produce is only a minuscule proportion of supermarkets' stock. Maybe it is best left to local shops. We have some excellent farm shops and delis in the region now - many of them opened in the last few years - as well as farmers' markets. Supermarkets would never be able to work on such a small scale as these outlets do. But as you're pushing your trolley up and down the aisles of the large stores, it's nice to have some tiny clue of where in the country you might be.

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