VIDEO: Boston checkout operator star of festive sprout film

Asda store assistant Vanessa Jackson, who appears in the sprout video, with service section leader Jane Hayford and some of the veg being sold by the store.

Vanessa Jackson, who works at the town’s Asda store, stars in a video, which follows the vegetable from field to fork, on the national chain’s Facebook page.

The clip has been viewed more than 152,000 times and received national attention.

“I think the video is good - it’s had a good reception,” said Vanessa. “There’s been one or two jokes being said by colleagues. Everybody keeps sharing it on Facebook.”

In the video Vanessa jokes that her husband ‘loves sprouts’ but did they really have any on the big day?

“It is a staple part of Christmas dinner,” added Vanessa. But she admitted: “It’s probably the only day we have them.”

Vanessa, from Algarkirk, has worked at the store for seven years and said she was selected to feature simply because she was available. And a clear natural in front of the camera, it only required two takes.

The video - featuring a talking sprout - begins in a field at M Baker Produce, which is based at Old Leake. It follows the journey from being picked, to the shelves in the Lister Way store before being taken home to be enjoyed with a meal.

A spokesman for Asda said they wanted to show their customers where their sprouts came from, and said Boston was the main supplier of the veg for the store.

The spokesman, who helped to record the video, said: “We’ve seen a positive reaction to it. It was a little bit of fun to show how we source our sprouts. It was really interesting to see the process.”

It also relates facts about the supermarket’s sales of sprouts, including that it is predicted the store will sell 97,100,000 Brussel sprouts – including 650 tonnes of sprouts in December alone.

Boston and Skegness MP Matt Warman said he was impressed with the video. “It’s really great to see supermarkets connecting the fantastic food that we grow across huge swathes of Lincolnshire with what ends up on their shelves,” he said. “Isn’t it great to see fantastic, positive stories that are, to my mind, a far more representative way of looking at  Boston.”