I throughly enjoyed the reading by Benson and Fischer. In particular, what resonated with me was their discussion firstly surrounding the concept of desire and economic preference. I also agree that while making money is certainly in pursuit of self interest as well as rational decision making, it is certainly the case as well that culture plays a significant role regarding economic and financial values.

Upon analyzing this section of the reading it helped me when analyzing Mayan Farmer’s culinary standards. Specifically, regarding people’s views based on their cultural heritage and background. This can be seen through the fact that plants would throw out broccoli that was slightly discoloured, while the Mayan’s find it immoral to waste any food that is eatable regardless of its colour. In addition, Mayan farmers stances on Broccoli and criticisms of companies practices reminds me of the some of the Garifuna woman, who refused to make their work last less long and become more efficient by integrating the values and customs of another culture.

In addition, the Broccoli that was used to hide Marijuana reveals another example of how the meaning of food in western society is different compared to other parts of the world and other people. Whether it is seen first as a cultural practice or what helps people  feed their family from their labour within the food market, or engage in other activities that can be labelled as questionable there are more reasons why food is significant to people outside of allowing them to “be healthy” and “stay in shape” as the article describes.