Hilary Freeman Can't Figure Out Why Her Supermarket Thought Her Jewish

Here's one Jewish consumer who is upset at ethnic profiling, Hilary Freeman:

Supermarket Big Brother: The spy in your shopping basket... but how DOES Ocado know I'm Jewish?

A fortnight ago, I received an unexpected seasonal greeting via email. 'Chag Sameach, Hilary,' it read - to translate, that's Hebrew for 'Happy holiday'.

Last week saw the start of the Jewish festival of Passover.

How kind, I thought, at first.

But this was no ordinary greeting. It didn't come from a friend, relative or even a colleague.

It came from Ocado, the delivery partner of Waitrose. And, rather than being a thoughtful gesture, it was actually an invitation to spend my hard-earned cash on Passover groceries.

Call me paranoid, but this direct - and ethnic - marketing ploy made me feel slightly uneasy. How on earth, I wondered, did Ocado know I was Jewish?

Had I loudly exclaimed 'Oy Vay's me!' (a Yiddish phrase, loosely meaning 'woe is me') to the delivery driver when he accidentally dropped my yoghurts? Was it my - often but not always Jewish - surname, Freeman? Or the conspicuous lack of bacon in my weekly deliveries?

After racking my brains, I decided that Ocado could only have concluded I was Jewish because I have occasionally bought fried gefilte fish balls, a Jewish delicacy, as part of my monthly shop. Now, you don't have to be Jewish to enjoy fishballs, but it helps. My non-Jewish husband finds them repellent. [only Jewish Brits cook it that way nowadays - with sugar]

Though I'm not a practising Jew, I am proud of my identity and have no wish to conceal it. Yet, it concerns me that a shop should mark me out as Jewish because I occasionally enjoy Jewish food.

Had I bought a curry, would Ocado assume I was Indian and send me 'Happy Diwali' greetings? And what else could they have concluded about me, by recording what I buy? Does the supermarket think that because I like Jewish food I must fit other racial stereotypes? Will it only be a matter of time before it sends me special offers on Woody Allen DVDs and self-help books?

...Supermarket ethnic profiling has reportedly been used by the authorities to mark out individuals for observation

What if this information were to fall into the hands of nationalists or extremists? Or what if a future government decided that people who eat fishballs are undesirables? You might think I'm over-reacting, but supermarket ethnic profiling has reportedly been used by the authorities to mark out individuals for observation...