One of my favourite things to do when I am in a new place is visiting grocery stores. I like walking on the aisles, looking at different products and letting myself be amazed by the diversity (or in some areas, lack of diversity). I look at the prices and convert them to my home currency. If I understand the language, I sometimes look at the ingredients, especially those I have never seen before.
I enjoyed the three readings for this week, but Food: The Key Concepts (Belasco, 2008) really resonated with me. Telling people I am in the faculty of Land and Food Systems often comes with a couple of confused looks, and if the person is curious, a couple of questions.
Belasco helped me express why food systems should be studied and why I decided to study food. I liked how he talks about food and the optimism with which he addresses some of the current issues of our food systems, such as the “true cost” of food. I also liked how the author emphasizes the importance of academia towards better food systems instead of creating polarization between academics and grassroots movements. I will send him an email to see if he wants to grab virtual coffee with me (wish me luck)…
I also really enjoyed the media studies reading. Although I have been learning in a somatically and a symbolically way my entire life, it was nice to understand the difference between both types of learning.
Question from me to you: Do you visit grocery stores when you travel?
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- Picture 1 – Chedraui supermercado, Oaxaca, 2019.
- Picture 2 – COOP, Switzerland, 2019.
- Picture 3 – My dad visiting grocery stores with me in Richmond, 2019.
Quotes that I found and liked on this week readings:
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- ” Our daily life is a trip around the wo
rld, yet the wonder of it gives us not a single thrill. We are oblivious” (East, 1994, as cited in Belasco, 2008). - “Food identifies who we are, where we came from, and what we want to be.”(Belasco, 2008)
- “Food reveals our souls” (Fine, 2008, as cited in Belasco, 2008))
- ” Our daily life is a trip around the wo