As an Italian I was warned several times before coming to the UK how bad the food at the supermarket would be here. Within the first couple of months I figured out most of the ins and outs of buying food here, except the fact that I couldn't find a decent pasta sauce anywhere. After a few weeks of hunting I found a solution to my tomato sauce problems, but it took me so much longer to find a solution to the pesto problem.
I know all supermarkets sell little jars of pesto, by Sacla and other brands. But pesto from a jar is probably the worst possible kind. Being used to fresh pesto at every little supermarket in Luxembourg I was shocked, stunned and surprised by the lack of good pesto. At first I bought some at Selfridges, but I couldn't really afford their price tag, so good pesto became a thing of luxury. Eventually I gave up and bought the jar stuff and wallowed in pain every time I cooked pasta.
But then this year I started the hunt all over again, I was not going to eat the same boring pasta in tomato sauce, I had to find some good pesto! Thankfully we moved flat, so we were closer to a Waitrose, and they have a large variety of pestos. They have at least 3 different types in a plastic container that happen to all taste good, but if you're in a big Waitrose they even have fresh pesto at the cheese and meat counters. If you're a jar fanatic Waitrose is still crazy enough to carry those too.
It was like Waitrose was my Mecca, I had finally found the perfect pesto! Sadly, sometimes I still have to buy the pesto from the jar, like when I was in M&S last week, but when I can I'll choose the Waitrose one any day. It's truly amazing, this coming from the Italian that's too lazy to make her own pesto.
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