Crappy food review #4: pizzagate at the discounter supermarket
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Hello everyone, I am back with another consoomerism report, telling you the stories that truly matter
About a half a year ago or so I saw in the Lidl a vegan pizza "salami style". I was wondering how it'd taste, so on the first chance I got bought one of these ultraprocessed pinnacles of food engineering.
I don't have an oven(real estate is expensive OK), ironically, so I sometimes bring one to someone I visit, totally a normal thing to do.
I have eaten 4 of them now and I think they're pretty good price considered, the fake cheese is nice and the fake salami doesn't taste like salami at all but is still nice. It could use perhaps a little more tomato(I think) to make the taste a little bit more balanced, and they're not enough as a meal on their own, like many cheap ovenpizza's. I quite like it, and I am impressed.
At 2 euros(1,99) it's affordable. Many vegan products("Omg!! plant based! so cool and sustainable!!" - soyjak product owner at marketing company in big city probably) are often really expensive for some reason, and this one is relatively accessible. Food like this shouldn't be just for the higher incomes, and it's good that you can get one for 2 euro.
Recently I was in 🅱️erlin for a few days, when I made a shocking discovery. The same pizza is 1,19 EUR at the Lidl in Germany!
So the pizza is 40% cheaper in Germany, or 67% more expensive in the Netherlands. Quite a big difference. Needless to say I was completely shocked that a company would do such a common practice among corporations.
So as my duty is as a consoomer I submitted the contact form at the Lidl website. It was not the first time I had filed a complaint about a pizza.
I had sent something, but I lost what I'd sent, but here was the reply:
Dear <my name>
In response to your report, we can inform you as follows:
The difference in sales prices per country is due to a multitude of causes such as, for example, the company's different cost structures resulting from VAT rates, transport costs, personnel costs, advertising costs, procurement costs and many other factors. We will take your report into account in future pricing determinations.
We trust we have provided you to service with this information and hope to welcome you as a satisfied customer to one of our branches soon.
kind regards, (etcetera)
I call all my followers in Europe who go to the Lidl now and then to find this pizza and take a picture with it and the price tag and sent a comment to me, so I can see which countries have which price!
Update 2024-05-03: I am glad to report that the price has been changed to 1,69! Also I tried the margherita variant, which is the same price. Its taste is more cohesive, contains 1,2 grams less salt(3 vs 4,2) but it weighs also 50 grams less which means even less calories(650 vs 758 kcal). All in all quite enjoyable. I'm also glad to report that I can prepare the pizzas myself now, as I found an airfryer between a huge pile of discarded houseware(probably from an international student which had to move out or something) on the street and it still works. Don't worry though I cleaned it properly.
update 2024-08-24: I saw one in belgium for 1,69, making the following table:
| Country | Price | Date reported |
|---|---|---|
| Germany | 1,19 | 2024-01-24 |
| Netherlands | 1,99 | 2024-03-11 |
| Netherlands | 1,69 | 2024-05-03 |
| Belgium | 1,69 | 2024-08-03 |