TV food critic Jay Rayner has said buying groceries from local independent shops could do more harm than good at a talk in Highgate.

The acerbic journalist, who is restaurant critic for The Observer, spoke about snobbery in the “age of the foodie” and the economics of feeding ourselves in years to come at Jacksons Lane arts centre in Archway Road on Saturday (February 22).

He said supermarkets are not “necessarily evil”.

He told the audience that organic food is just a label and a marketing tool, farmers’ markets are a lifestyle choice, and explained why food security depends on large-scale production at the talk promoting the critic’s latest book, A Greedy Man in a Hungry World.

Mr Rayner, who makes regular appearances on BBC food programme MasterChef, then took questions from the audience.