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In one respect Antony Worrall Thompson's snaffling of low-value goods from Tesco was bang on trend: the celebrity chef also nicked cheese.
"I have been Edam fool," was the Sun's front-page headline, amid much conjecture about the disaffected middle-classes chasing thrills, and luxury items that they can supposedly no longer afford. US statistics show shoplifting is on the rise with austerity. And cheese was last year found to be the most pilfered food in the world.
Cheese – and raw meat in the US – is stolen at a much higher rate than other foods, according to Global Retail Theft Barometer and Checkpoint Systems. "The reasons why are reasonably clear, including high demand, easy 'disposal' by thieves and small, mobile formats that make it easy to conceal," say the US consultants in a 2011 report about what the industry euphemistically calls "shrink".
While some of what the criminologist Ron Clarke termed Craved items (Concealable, Removable, Available, Valuable, Enjoyable and Disposable), such as razor blades, DVDs and bottles of spirits are protected with security tags, supermarket cheese is rarely given the same protection, according to Lorraine Gamman, director of the Design Against Crime Research Centre.
She points out how cheese conforms to the Craved acronym: widely enjoyed, easy to conceal and kept in fridges rather than shelves that are subject to more extensive surveillance.
So how did Worrall Thompson shoplift cheese? Not caerphilly enough, as the tweeted jokes cruelly suggested.
Comments
10 January 2012 9:13PM
It's obviously Emmenthal issue.
10 January 2012 9:35PM
He should be doing Thyme for this!
10 January 2012 10:57PM
How embarrassing for him when he saw the Danish Blue flashing light.
10 January 2012 10:58PM
Why did he need to steal? Surely he had enough money for a spending sBrie.
10 January 2012 11:00PM
I hope he doesn't get a gaol sentence: I don't want him trudging round the prison Yarg.
10 January 2012 11:03PM
If he had to steal because was hard up and had no ready money, I sigh in sympathy for him: no Kashar!
10 January 2012 11:21PM
He got caught cos he was no good gouda at it! Did he think edam when the security man tapped his shoulder?
10 January 2012 11:23PM
WHY ? because you can stilt on the payment.
10 January 2012 11:39PM
I'm not really surprised to hear this. Many years ago my wife and I ate at his Woz restaurant in Notting Hill and it was truly criminal.
11 January 2012 1:12AM
What do you call a snake headed monster who played football for Italy............... Gorgon Zola
11 January 2012 1:14AM
Not only did he steal cheese, he stole wine as well.............What a plonker.
11 January 2012 1:18AM
Hopefully he'll learn his lesson now that he's got form(age)!
11 January 2012 4:04AM
Trudging the Yarg will do him good; he looks like he could cheddar few pounds.
11 January 2012 4:39AM
I recently nicked a Vanilla pod from Waitrose, how's that for a Guardian reading middle class cliche?
(apart from maybe the nicking of course, but it was over 3 quid, for a single pod!!)
11 January 2012 7:17AM
I am not surprised either. Many years ago my friend and I ate at his Atrium restaurant in Westminster and it was truly criminal.
He could always sell his cooking range - conspicuous greed, probably has the same worth as my house.
11 January 2012 8:19AM
he would of been feta off paying for it...
11 January 2012 8:20AM
Don't you just love it when a security guard thinks he's Inspector Morse? 'Easy disposal'? It surely depends on whether they also lifted (lovely verb that by the way) a packet of cream crackers.
Btw, if I am mistaken and there is a big black market in cheese can someone please let me know where I can find the dodgy greezers who sell the hot stuff?
11 January 2012 8:22AM
It was the wine that got him caught. People steal cheese because they know the only section the security is watching is the one with the booze.
11 January 2012 8:30AM
i wonder what was the motta with him....
11 January 2012 8:32AM
Only, at best, a B grade I'm afraid. For an A you'd have had to specify that it was a Waitrose in a classic Guardianista area like Islington or Hampstead. Somewhere 'edgy' like Shoreditch or Hoxton might have got you the A*. Well-off middle class enclave in the leafy suburbs close to high standard faith school even better - ultimate Guardian cliche!
Better luck next time but watch out for PC Pod.
11 January 2012 8:35AM
You're right, I have failed, even worse it was South of the River
The Horror!
11 January 2012 8:35AM
what a camemblert....
11 January 2012 8:37AM
If I bump into someone who takes cheese that isn't theirs, I'm always sure to tell them that "it's nacho cheese".
11 January 2012 8:38AM
I truly loved the puns...thank you
11 January 2012 8:45AM
There's even a song about nicking cheese from the incomparable Slits :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xb1NFkGWZk
11 January 2012 8:46AM
Would you "Edam and Eve It?"
11 January 2012 8:52AM
It is whey too late to repent for this crime
11 January 2012 8:55AM
I'd have legged it from the police, mind you, I 'm a lot feta than him.
11 January 2012 8:56AM
Ok, drum please, the 5 greatest cheese jokes of all time -
What did the piece of cheese say when it saw itself in the mirror?
Haloumi !!!
What did the magician say when he pulled a piece of cheese out of his hat?
Chedder !!
What cheese isn't your cheese?
Nacho Cheese !!!
What cheese do you use to hide a horse?
Mascapone !!
And my favourite -
What cheese would you use to get a bear out of a cave?
Camembert !!!
11 January 2012 8:59AM
Hmmm, as stated, okay. But, that is only because Europe eats shit loads of it. According to the table in the reference, in North America Fresh Meat and Confectionary tie for first place. In macho Latin America Fresh Meat is the clear winner. In Asia/Pacific it's High Quality Fish and Seafood. It's only in Europe that cheese wins and it can only dominate the global poll if the value of it swamps that of the winners in the rest of the world (and/or Europeans shoplift more).
So you are economical with the truth by exclusion. It is more true to say that Europeans shoplift more cheese than any other item, in Europe or the rest of the world. That is some hunger for fromage.
11 January 2012 9:05AM
Cheeses, who cares?
11 January 2012 9:07AM
What a pity they did not jail him. Anthony only steal during a riot to ensure a spell in prison. And please pass on your skills to other TV chefs. The more of you fools in prison the less damn cookery programs there might be on the television. A new format beckons - perhaps "Prisoner cell block River Cottage" anyone.
11 January 2012 9:08AM
This is apparantly a nationwide problem with many regional towns up in arms over the issue. They are particularly seeing Red in Lecisester.
11 January 2012 9:11AM
Who's Laughing Cow?
11 January 2012 9:17AM
Try shopping in places other than high-end supermarkets, then.
11 January 2012 9:17AM
Bloke who works in M and S told me that thieves are stealing meat and fish there to order and they've had to start security tagging the steaks, joints and fresh fish! Not a joke but a bit alarming that it appears that easy to pinch stuff. No wonder all the staff have that hunted look. Imagine the staff briefings in the morning-like the Sweeney meets Miss Marple.
11 January 2012 9:17AM
Is stealing cheese fun? Gruyere!
11 January 2012 9:22AM
Ha ha ha AWT caught nicking from Tesco's. What little respect I had for him has gone up a touch.
Wait for the Daily Fail article pointing out immigrants are behind the nationwide Cheese Thefts.
They'll probably blame it on the Kurds.
11 January 2012 9:22AM
Better a dishonest TV chef than a Stinking Bishop.
11 January 2012 9:24AM
enough cheesy puns
11 January 2012 9:25AM
I used to go out with a bloke who nicked books. He wore a big coat that had conveniently book-sized pockets. After nicking quite a few books, he gravitated on to nicking book-sized slabs of cheddar.
11 January 2012 9:28AM
He should have gone about it more caerphilly.
11 January 2012 9:32AM
Did you know that Greeks eat the most cheese in the world. It's feta with everything here.. but lots of other cheese too. Metsovone is my fave Greek cheese.
Not sure how much cheese is stolen here, though. I should imagine that until recently (eco crisis), shoplifting was pretty low.
11 January 2012 9:33AM
I always thought it was haemorrhoid cream that was the most shoplifted article because people are too embarrassed to buy it. I heard years ago that piles of it had been stolen.
11 January 2012 9:34AM
If it happened near Christmas, perhaps he was stealing some little baby cheeses to go in his nativity scene.
11 January 2012 9:36AM
A very halloumi-nating piece, thank you.
11 January 2012 9:39AM
What's the best cheese to hide a horse behind?
Marscapone...
I'm here all week...
11 January 2012 9:39AM
he'll go down for a langres time...
11 January 2012 9:39AM
I regularly put through my Mediterranean Rustique Bread Rolls as Normal crusty white rolls when using the self-service tills and I save myself 5p in the process!
Take that Tesco - YES - I am sticking it to the MAN!
Good luck catching me!
11 January 2012 9:40AM
You nicked that off Kath & Kim!!
Kath sends Kim out to get 'a statue of little baby jesus' and Kim comes back with a sculpture of Baby Bels on cocktail sticks - 'a statue of little baby cheeses'