I remember with crystal clarity the empty grocery store shelves in March/April 2020. I’m grateful every time I go into a store for the variety of food products available to me.
Also unless something has changed recently there is no Trader Joe's in Calgary -- the chain famously does not operate in Canada, and goes out of its way to punish people who resell its goods into Canada (c.f. the "Pirate Joe's" saga).
(This is also, in a nutshell, the post-boomer critique of capitalism: That rather than any theoretical connection to free markets, capitalism in practice consists mostly of preventing markets. I'll shill for free markets every day of the week, but "capitalism" is a word so broad and contested as to be, at best, meaningless.)
Agree completely. And I DO marvel at the amazing shit I can find at Trader Joes - my kids are tired of hearing me talk about how we could never buy blueberries or raspberries in the winter in South Dakota in the 1980s - we were stuck with oranges, bananas, lousy apples, and the occasional pineapple.
While I do love bananas, am trying to eat fruits/veg as they arrive in season. Hence citrus in winter, cantaloupe in summer. But I’m totally with you about everything else on the shelf, and thrilled to have it. Share your food,people! And donate to your food pantry!!
I also enjoy having my favorite fruit and veg available all year round, imported during the winter from more southerly countries. I'll cherish it while I can, which isn't likely to be much longer.
There was indeed genocide associated with American produce - pineapple and sugar cane most famously - but those evil deeds were done in the early 20th Century, during the Robber Baron Capitalism era. Nowadays, the theme is Habitat Destruction, particularly with beef cattle in the Amazon and palm oil in Indonesia.
I live in DC suburbs. We have the standard Costco, Trader Joe's, Aldi, Lidl, Whole Foods,etc. We also have great selection of ethnic and international markets. Our supermarkets are pretty awesome. I'm a GEN F (Globe emoji neoliberal freak)
I'm old enough to remember shopping at two small grocery stores in converted townhouses; around 1950 or so we got a "supermarket", an operation which was around the size of 1-2 of the aisles in our current supermarket. Of course two or three aisles of the current supermarket are devoted to idiotic things like chips and bottled water; a waste of space that offends my Calvinistic soul, but on the whole it's a definite gain in utility.
Ppl go on about farmers markets. I’m in Ottawa Canada where these markets mostly sell processed stuff not just fresh produce so not a huge fan. I’d like better quality produce in my supermarket but otherwise yeah love that place. Esp in North America where you can get Italian, Mexican and Korean in one place!
I, too, often marvel at all that is available in modern supermarkets - the variety of foods, as well as the variety of choices within each food type is astonishing; and I feel fortunate to be a customer.
My parents were grocers. My dad loved produce. I grew up working beside them 12-14 hours/day, 6 days a week and I hated it. I despise going to the grocery store, supermarket and even the local bodega still.
I want to just make a comment about the limited selection of foods in Donetsk, only because two things immediately came to mind as I read it. a) Borscht. Aren't those the main ingredients? And b) my dad and papaya. Obviously, we were not in Donetsk or Chicago, but my dad, thinking it would be cool to introduce a new produce item, bought papaya. Needless to say, we had to eat a lot of papaya at home. (Still can’t stand the site of it.) Moral: Give the people what they want and don’t bother with the other stuff, especially if you’re working for profit.
I can be grateful that the supermarket has the produce I want and still have a hum of concern about the process that got it to me. In fact I was asked by Jewish Climate Alliance to express concern to Eric Schmitt about climate change legislation that could be put into the farm bill. This got nowhere with the staffer who said, "Heinrich is co-sponsoring it, you say?"
My "marvel" is the supply chain involved in getting produce to the vege cooler/shelves in a small village in upstate NY. Bananas in particular. Always available. And there is the greatest peanut butter ever imagined: Smuckers Creamy. When I try to imagine how many people are involved in creating the simplicity of "always in stock" food, my mind can't handle the logistics.
Dear Prof. Drezner: You live in a Boston suburb, and you didn't mention Market Basket? Tsk, tsk.
It doesn’t have to be a ‘gourmet’ supermarket to be worth celebrating!
I remember with crystal clarity the empty grocery store shelves in March/April 2020. I’m grateful every time I go into a store for the variety of food products available to me.
Also unless something has changed recently there is no Trader Joe's in Calgary -- the chain famously does not operate in Canada, and goes out of its way to punish people who resell its goods into Canada (c.f. the "Pirate Joe's" saga).
(This is also, in a nutshell, the post-boomer critique of capitalism: That rather than any theoretical connection to free markets, capitalism in practice consists mostly of preventing markets. I'll shill for free markets every day of the week, but "capitalism" is a word so broad and contested as to be, at best, meaningless.)
Agree completely. And I DO marvel at the amazing shit I can find at Trader Joes - my kids are tired of hearing me talk about how we could never buy blueberries or raspberries in the winter in South Dakota in the 1980s - we were stuck with oranges, bananas, lousy apples, and the occasional pineapple.
While I do love bananas, am trying to eat fruits/veg as they arrive in season. Hence citrus in winter, cantaloupe in summer. But I’m totally with you about everything else on the shelf, and thrilled to have it. Share your food,people! And donate to your food pantry!!
I also enjoy having my favorite fruit and veg available all year round, imported during the winter from more southerly countries. I'll cherish it while I can, which isn't likely to be much longer.
There was indeed genocide associated with American produce - pineapple and sugar cane most famously - but those evil deeds were done in the early 20th Century, during the Robber Baron Capitalism era. Nowadays, the theme is Habitat Destruction, particularly with beef cattle in the Amazon and palm oil in Indonesia.
Isn’t likely to be much longer? You’re such a doomster.
I live in DC suburbs. We have the standard Costco, Trader Joe's, Aldi, Lidl, Whole Foods,etc. We also have great selection of ethnic and international markets. Our supermarkets are pretty awesome. I'm a GEN F (Globe emoji neoliberal freak)
I'm old enough to remember shopping at two small grocery stores in converted townhouses; around 1950 or so we got a "supermarket", an operation which was around the size of 1-2 of the aisles in our current supermarket. Of course two or three aisles of the current supermarket are devoted to idiotic things like chips and bottled water; a waste of space that offends my Calvinistic soul, but on the whole it's a definite gain in utility.
Ppl go on about farmers markets. I’m in Ottawa Canada where these markets mostly sell processed stuff not just fresh produce so not a huge fan. I’d like better quality produce in my supermarket but otherwise yeah love that place. Esp in North America where you can get Italian, Mexican and Korean in one place!
I, too, often marvel at all that is available in modern supermarkets - the variety of foods, as well as the variety of choices within each food type is astonishing; and I feel fortunate to be a customer.
My parents were grocers. My dad loved produce. I grew up working beside them 12-14 hours/day, 6 days a week and I hated it. I despise going to the grocery store, supermarket and even the local bodega still.
I want to just make a comment about the limited selection of foods in Donetsk, only because two things immediately came to mind as I read it. a) Borscht. Aren't those the main ingredients? And b) my dad and papaya. Obviously, we were not in Donetsk or Chicago, but my dad, thinking it would be cool to introduce a new produce item, bought papaya. Needless to say, we had to eat a lot of papaya at home. (Still can’t stand the site of it.) Moral: Give the people what they want and don’t bother with the other stuff, especially if you’re working for profit.
You lost me at “I hate bananas”.
(It really looks like a VERY good bill: https://www.heinrich.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/heinrich-pingree-reintroduce-bill-to-put-nation-on-path-to-net-zero-agriculture-emissions)
(According to R' Moshe Feinstein fast ends at 9:02)
I can be grateful that the supermarket has the produce I want and still have a hum of concern about the process that got it to me. In fact I was asked by Jewish Climate Alliance to express concern to Eric Schmitt about climate change legislation that could be put into the farm bill. This got nowhere with the staffer who said, "Heinrich is co-sponsoring it, you say?"
My "marvel" is the supply chain involved in getting produce to the vege cooler/shelves in a small village in upstate NY. Bananas in particular. Always available. And there is the greatest peanut butter ever imagined: Smuckers Creamy. When I try to imagine how many people are involved in creating the simplicity of "always in stock" food, my mind can't handle the logistics.