Food Autobiography: Naïve American Eating Habits
My sister and I were raised to understand the importance of our daily meals as well as what to include in them. My mom was big on us having knowledge of the different food groups and the portions we consumed from each food group. When I was younger, my mom did almost all the cooking and with each meal, she always included a vegetable or two and we were forced to eat it whether we liked it or not. Sometimes, she’d reward us with a dessert but that wasn’t an all the time thing. Although there are still some vegetables I choose not to eat, now I willingly eat vegetables and am more aware of the benefits that come from eating healthier. My mom cooked a variety of meals including multiple meats, some seafood, many different vegetables, breads and some soups. One of her famous meals is tacos; I love her tacos, but she’s managed to cause my sister to hate them due to how often she used to cook them. Tacos were one of the more economical meals along with chicken which she fried quite often, so I as the older sibling, understood why she cooked it as much as she did and still ate the tacos with gratitude instead of the discontent my sister was filled with. Despite how often she took the economical route with meals, there were times she’d switch it up to prevent from tiring us out with specific foods or making multiple dishes our favorites.
Due to instilled American values, my parents also believed and participated in the emphasis of buying many different meats while grocery shopping. I’m sure statistics can show how much of an unhealthy decision this was, yet Americans still see the value of having more meat in their diet than any other food group. My mom was and still is a working woman, but it wasn’t until recently that she let work affect her energy when it came to cooking dinner throughout the week. A fair number of women let work affect their cooking and meal prep, which my mom was once opposed to, but I believe that because it has become so common and “normal” to grab something instant and/or ready to serve from the grocery store, she has joined in on this newfound American custom. As a child, my mom wasn’t big on feeding us processed foods or fast food because she was aware of the health outcomes and preferred to keep her children away from that, but over the years it became inevitable.
Prior to the new American customs of instant meals and fast food, the only time my sister and I were exposed to what my mother kept us from in regards to food were on our birthdays and when we spent time with our other family members. Growing up, I wasn’t too big on snacks and junk food but I was around it often because I spent a lot of time with my cousins. My cousins’ parents didn’t care what they ate, as long as they ate the groceries that were purchased. Their kitchen pantries were always filled with junk food and their freezers filled with ready to serve meals, but even seeing that didn’t persuade me into eating it because I was more concerned with staying cavity-free. When it came to school lunch, I chose to bring my own lunch to school from home which would range from homemade sandwiches to leftovers from dinner the night before. I started bringing lunch from home when I started first grade up until the beginning of high school, and from that point on I felt too old to bring lunch from home which ended up drastically affecting my diet.
During my junior year in high school, I took a nutrition and wellness class. Throughout the class, we learned about the food pyramid in depth, how to properly store foods and every two weeks we’d cook a food chosen by our teacher, Mrs. Hunt. Close to the end of the year, Mrs. Hunt came into class talking about how she had something of interest for all the fast food eaters. Once class began and she turned on the big screen, the class broke out in loud remarks of disgust like “ew” and “are you kidding me?”. On the big screen was a Facebook post about McDonalds nuggets and their burgers; the post revealed how the food was processed, the ingredients and the cleanliness within the establishments. Seeing that and reading from the source, which happened to be telling the truth, caused me to view McDonalds differently and from that point on, I don’t buy anything other than a drink and/or dessert from McDonalds.
Up until my nutrition and wellness class, I didn’t think much about food systems and specifically how my food was processed. Watching Food Inc. for a second time in this class, allowed me to further understand how corrupted the government is and how money hungry food companies are which skews their thoughts about the quality of the food rather than the quantity. More times than not, I’m eating some type of meat atleast twice a day and it never dawns on me to stop and think where the meat came from or how it was processed. Through a naïve perspective, I have realized that chicken comes from chicken and ground beef comes from cows, but I’ve never stopped to think how the chicken and beef were processed or how the animals were kept prior to being killed. As far as produce, I have never once thought about where my fruits and vegetables come from other than the obvious farm. Today, the United States has more access to fruits and vegetables year-round due to both national and sometimes international trade willing to provide the produce that we demand, keeping our grocery stores filled during all seasons instead of only summer and spring.
As a citizen of the United States, I’ve grown used to the values and customs of food within our society. Prior to the 1950s when women were granted the right to work, women were expected to cook and prepare all meals along with their nursing and cleaning duties within the household. Today, there are more men cooking dinner and less women cooking; instead, women are more prone to grab something quick from a fast food restaurant during their ride home from work. I believe the increased demand for instant, or pre-prepped food along with the simple notion of stopping at a drive-thru comes from the idea of women having less time and energy to cook dinner than they did before being granted the right to work. When it comes to the food industry, I can’t say I’m proud to be an American due to the way we are viewed in other countries. The United States is known for its obesity and advertising dollar menus as opposed to being a country big on promoting healthy eating habits and reasonable produce pricing in grocery stores and markets.
As much as my mom stressed the idea of including a variety of foods from all food groups, I haven’t always been the best in making sure that I include those. Being in college and away from home has influenced my eating habits and in a beneficial way. I am more prone to eat a salad about three times a week and make an attempt to eat a fruit and vegetable every day compared to being at home with more access to junk food and dollar menu options. Now, I aim to eat a complete meal twice a day and the snacks I tend to eat are more like crackers, a fruit cup or some yogurt. I want to continue to eat healthier and create a better daily diet as well as staying away from the addicting junk food. With eating healthier, I will continue to further my understanding and knowledge about food in general as well as the secretive food industry in hopes of staying aware of what I’m putting into my body.
Revised Food Autobiography
My sister and I were raised to understand the importance of our daily meals as well as what to include in them. My mom was big on us having knowledge of the different food groups and the portions we consumed from each food group. When I was younger, my mom did almost all the cooking and with each meal, she always included a vegetable or two and we were forced to eat it whether we liked it or not. Sometimes, she’d reward us with a dessert but that wasn’t an all the time thing. Although there are still some vegetables I choose not to eat, now I willingly eat vegetables and am more aware of the benefits that come from eating healthier. My mom cooked a variety of meals including multiple meats, some seafood, many different vegetables, breads and some soups. One of her famous meals is tacos; I love her tacos, but she’s managed to cause my sister to hate them due to how often she used to cook them. Tacos were one of the more economical meals along with chicken which she fried quite often, so I as the older sibling, understood why she cooked it as much as she did and still ate the tacos with gratitude instead of the discontent my sister was filled with. Despite how often she took the economical route with meals, there were times she’d switch it up to prevent from tiring us out with specific foods or making multiple dishes our favorites.
Like most Americans, my parents believed and participated in the emphasis of buying many different meats while grocery shopping. I was inspired to confront my mom about why she believed in this value after reading the article, “How to Get America on the Mediterranean Diet”. Her disapproval of this dietary approach only confirmed how having knowledge regarding the amount of meat we choose to eat in the US, as well as how it is an unhealthy decision, isn’t worth being “un-normal” and altering diets to replace meats with seafood. My mom was and still is a working woman, but it wasn’t until recently that she decided to let work affect her energy when it came to cooking dinner throughout the week. A fair number of people let work affect their cooking and meal prep, which my mom was once opposed to, but I believe that because it has become so common and “normal” for parents to grab something instant and/or ready to serve from the grocery store, she has joined in on this newfound American custom. As a child, my mom wasn’t big on feeding us processed foods or fast food because she was aware of the health outcomes and preferred to keep her children away from that, but over the years it became inevitable.
Prior to the new American customs of instant meals and fast food, the only time my sister and I were exposed to what my mother kept us from in regards to food were on our birthdays and when we spent time with our other family members. Growing up, I wasn’t too big on snacks and junk food but I was around it often because I spent a lot of time with my cousins. My cousins’ parents didn’t care what they ate, as long as they ate the groceries that were purchased. Their kitchen pantries were always filled with snacks like honey buns, oatmeal crème pies, and rice krispie treats along with their freezers staying filled with ready to serve meals. Despite seeing this quite often, I wasn’t persuaded enough to eat any of those because I was more concerned with staying cavity-free, unlike my cousins. When it came to school lunch, I chose to bring my own lunch to school from home which would range from homemade sandwiches to leftovers from dinner the night before. I started bringing lunch from home when I started first grade up until the beginning of high school. When reaching high school or sometimes a certain grade in middle school, adolescents start to think that bringing lunch from home isn’t “cool” therefore, they ask their parents to start eating at school like the children they consider to be “cool” or popular. I was one of those kids when I got in high school, and because I felt too old to bring lunch from home my diet was drastically affected.
During my junior year in high school, I took a nutrition and wellness class. Throughout the class, we learned about the food pyramid in depth, how to properly store foods and every two weeks we’d cook a food chosen by our teacher, Mrs. Hunt. Close to the end of the year, Mrs. Hunt came into class talking about how she had something of interest for all the fast food eaters. Once class began and she turned on the big screen, the class broke out in loud remarks of disgust like “ew” and “are you kidding me?”. On the big screen was a Facebook post about McDonalds nuggets and their burgers; the post revealed how the food was processed, the ingredients and the cleanliness within the establishments. Seeing that and reading from the source, which happened to be telling the truth, caused me to view McDonalds differently and from that point on, I don’t buy anything other than a drink and/or dessert from McDonalds. After learning more about McDonaldization process in the food industry, I'm not too fond of any fast food restaurants anymore not only because of what their products are actually made of, but how business are more focused on producing mass amounts that they're losing sight on the quality of what they're serving.
Up until my nutrition and wellness class, I didn’t think much about food systems and specifically how my food was processed. Watching Food Inc. for a second time in this class, allowed me to further understand how corrupted the government is and how money hungry food companies are which skews their thoughts about the quality of the food rather than the quantity. More times than not, I’m eating some type of meat atleast twice a day and it never dawns on me to stop and think where the meat came from or how it was processed. Prior to this course, I only knew that chicken comes from chicken and ground beef comes from cows, but now I am more mindful of how these animals are kept on farms as well as the conditions they experience before being slaughtered. I can say that this class has inspired me to be vegetarian and although I don’t see it possible for me now, I plan to reduce my meat consumption and hope to become vegetarian one day. As far as produce, before taking this class I didn’t stop and think about where my fruits and vegetables come from or who was in charge of growing them and shipping them to grocery stores. Now I care about the conditions of my produce as much as where I choose to shop for clothes, especially after seeing the poor conditions that workers experience and the low wages that they receive in The Harvest (la cosecha). I also pay closer attention to labels like “organic” and “GMO-free” because I am better educated on companies lying and/or misleading consumers with the information they choose to include on their product’s labels. For example, in the article we read titled, “How Square Watermelons Get Their Shape, and Other G.M.O. Misconceptions”, the author mentions the misconception of McCann’s Steel Cut Irish Oatmeal that has a non-GMO label on more recent products, yet no GMO versions of this product exist. Today, the United States has more access to fruits and vegetables year-round due to new farming methods like vertical farming and trade with other countries willing to provide the produce that we demand, keeping our grocery stores filled during all seasons instead of only summer and spring.
As a citizen of the United States, I’ve grown used to the values and customs of food within our society. Prior to when women were granted the right to work, women were solely expected to cook and prepare all meals along with their nursing and cleaning duties within the household. Today, there are more men cooking dinner and less women cooking than before women’s responsibilities shifted; instead, women are more prone to grab something quick from a fast food restaurant during their ride home from work. I believe the increased demand for instant, or pre-prepped food along with the simple notion of stopping at a drive-thru comes from the idea of women having less time and energy to cook dinner than they did before being granted the right to work. When it comes to the food industry, I’m not proud to be an American due to the way we are viewed in other countries and how their perspective has much reason behind it. The United States is known for its obesity and advertising dollar menus as opposed to being a country big on promoting healthy eating habits and reasonable produce pricing in grocery stores and markets.
As much as my mom stressed the idea of including a variety of foods from all food groups, I haven’t always been the best in making sure that I include those. Being in college and away from home has influenced my eating habits and in a beneficial way. I am more prone to eat a salad about three times a week and make an attempt to eat a fruit and vegetable every day compared to being at home with more access to junk food and dollar menu options. Now, I aim to eat a complete meal twice a day and the snacks I tend to eat are more like crackers, a fruit cup or some yogurt. I plan to continue to eat healthier by reducing my meat consumption and including more whole grain foods as well as cooking more at home. Also, in helping to create a better daily diet, I will stay away from the addicting junk food and snacks that I have made a habit of eating quite often. After this class, I will continue to further my understanding and knowledge about food in general as well as the secretive food industry in hopes of staying aware of what I’m putting into my body because like Melanie Warner’s mom said, “just because its edible, doesn’t mean its good for you” (Warner xix).
Like most Americans, my parents believed and participated in the emphasis of buying many different meats while grocery shopping. I was inspired to confront my mom about why she believed in this value after reading the article, “How to Get America on the Mediterranean Diet”. Her disapproval of this dietary approach only confirmed how having knowledge regarding the amount of meat we choose to eat in the US, as well as how it is an unhealthy decision, isn’t worth being “un-normal” and altering diets to replace meats with seafood. My mom was and still is a working woman, but it wasn’t until recently that she decided to let work affect her energy when it came to cooking dinner throughout the week. A fair number of people let work affect their cooking and meal prep, which my mom was once opposed to, but I believe that because it has become so common and “normal” for parents to grab something instant and/or ready to serve from the grocery store, she has joined in on this newfound American custom. As a child, my mom wasn’t big on feeding us processed foods or fast food because she was aware of the health outcomes and preferred to keep her children away from that, but over the years it became inevitable.
Prior to the new American customs of instant meals and fast food, the only time my sister and I were exposed to what my mother kept us from in regards to food were on our birthdays and when we spent time with our other family members. Growing up, I wasn’t too big on snacks and junk food but I was around it often because I spent a lot of time with my cousins. My cousins’ parents didn’t care what they ate, as long as they ate the groceries that were purchased. Their kitchen pantries were always filled with snacks like honey buns, oatmeal crème pies, and rice krispie treats along with their freezers staying filled with ready to serve meals. Despite seeing this quite often, I wasn’t persuaded enough to eat any of those because I was more concerned with staying cavity-free, unlike my cousins. When it came to school lunch, I chose to bring my own lunch to school from home which would range from homemade sandwiches to leftovers from dinner the night before. I started bringing lunch from home when I started first grade up until the beginning of high school. When reaching high school or sometimes a certain grade in middle school, adolescents start to think that bringing lunch from home isn’t “cool” therefore, they ask their parents to start eating at school like the children they consider to be “cool” or popular. I was one of those kids when I got in high school, and because I felt too old to bring lunch from home my diet was drastically affected.
During my junior year in high school, I took a nutrition and wellness class. Throughout the class, we learned about the food pyramid in depth, how to properly store foods and every two weeks we’d cook a food chosen by our teacher, Mrs. Hunt. Close to the end of the year, Mrs. Hunt came into class talking about how she had something of interest for all the fast food eaters. Once class began and she turned on the big screen, the class broke out in loud remarks of disgust like “ew” and “are you kidding me?”. On the big screen was a Facebook post about McDonalds nuggets and their burgers; the post revealed how the food was processed, the ingredients and the cleanliness within the establishments. Seeing that and reading from the source, which happened to be telling the truth, caused me to view McDonalds differently and from that point on, I don’t buy anything other than a drink and/or dessert from McDonalds. After learning more about McDonaldization process in the food industry, I'm not too fond of any fast food restaurants anymore not only because of what their products are actually made of, but how business are more focused on producing mass amounts that they're losing sight on the quality of what they're serving.
Up until my nutrition and wellness class, I didn’t think much about food systems and specifically how my food was processed. Watching Food Inc. for a second time in this class, allowed me to further understand how corrupted the government is and how money hungry food companies are which skews their thoughts about the quality of the food rather than the quantity. More times than not, I’m eating some type of meat atleast twice a day and it never dawns on me to stop and think where the meat came from or how it was processed. Prior to this course, I only knew that chicken comes from chicken and ground beef comes from cows, but now I am more mindful of how these animals are kept on farms as well as the conditions they experience before being slaughtered. I can say that this class has inspired me to be vegetarian and although I don’t see it possible for me now, I plan to reduce my meat consumption and hope to become vegetarian one day. As far as produce, before taking this class I didn’t stop and think about where my fruits and vegetables come from or who was in charge of growing them and shipping them to grocery stores. Now I care about the conditions of my produce as much as where I choose to shop for clothes, especially after seeing the poor conditions that workers experience and the low wages that they receive in The Harvest (la cosecha). I also pay closer attention to labels like “organic” and “GMO-free” because I am better educated on companies lying and/or misleading consumers with the information they choose to include on their product’s labels. For example, in the article we read titled, “How Square Watermelons Get Their Shape, and Other G.M.O. Misconceptions”, the author mentions the misconception of McCann’s Steel Cut Irish Oatmeal that has a non-GMO label on more recent products, yet no GMO versions of this product exist. Today, the United States has more access to fruits and vegetables year-round due to new farming methods like vertical farming and trade with other countries willing to provide the produce that we demand, keeping our grocery stores filled during all seasons instead of only summer and spring.
As a citizen of the United States, I’ve grown used to the values and customs of food within our society. Prior to when women were granted the right to work, women were solely expected to cook and prepare all meals along with their nursing and cleaning duties within the household. Today, there are more men cooking dinner and less women cooking than before women’s responsibilities shifted; instead, women are more prone to grab something quick from a fast food restaurant during their ride home from work. I believe the increased demand for instant, or pre-prepped food along with the simple notion of stopping at a drive-thru comes from the idea of women having less time and energy to cook dinner than they did before being granted the right to work. When it comes to the food industry, I’m not proud to be an American due to the way we are viewed in other countries and how their perspective has much reason behind it. The United States is known for its obesity and advertising dollar menus as opposed to being a country big on promoting healthy eating habits and reasonable produce pricing in grocery stores and markets.
As much as my mom stressed the idea of including a variety of foods from all food groups, I haven’t always been the best in making sure that I include those. Being in college and away from home has influenced my eating habits and in a beneficial way. I am more prone to eat a salad about three times a week and make an attempt to eat a fruit and vegetable every day compared to being at home with more access to junk food and dollar menu options. Now, I aim to eat a complete meal twice a day and the snacks I tend to eat are more like crackers, a fruit cup or some yogurt. I plan to continue to eat healthier by reducing my meat consumption and including more whole grain foods as well as cooking more at home. Also, in helping to create a better daily diet, I will stay away from the addicting junk food and snacks that I have made a habit of eating quite often. After this class, I will continue to further my understanding and knowledge about food in general as well as the secretive food industry in hopes of staying aware of what I’m putting into my body because like Melanie Warner’s mom said, “just because its edible, doesn’t mean its good for you” (Warner xix).
Pandora's Lunchbox Email
Dear Woman of the World,
I told you I’d be emailing you for a class project for my eating industrial class, so hopefully this long email won’t startle you too much but remind you of how I told you I had plenty of food info for you after reading Pandora’s Lunchbox. Pandora’s Lunchbox is a diet book written to encourage you to eat how you want but to also be aware of what it is that you’re choosing to eat. The author, Melanie Warner, takes multiple approaches in order to get her point across about processed foods in American culture. Throughout the novel, she touches on topics like cheese product ingredients and cereal ingredients, all of which she goes through how the products are made, who makes them, as well as whether or not the producer eats the product. I don’t think you’d like reading it because of the scientific talk she includes which gets a little confusing, but the “fun facts”, as you call them, are worth the read. The second time I met for this class, I decided to be more open-minded about food and how it is processed but I never thought of the “white powders” or “beige powders” that Warner mentioned to be in most of what I eat. I know you’ve stressed the importance and value of eating your fruits and veggies therefore it made me smile when the author mentioned her mom and how she influenced her eating habits.
Although you may think you know what processed foods are, you don’t know Warner’s definition, “something that could not be made, with the same ingredients, in a home kitchen. Your home kitchen” (Warner xviii). After reading this definition, I found myself coming up with examples of times I ate something that couldn’t be made at home and I found myself realizing that sometimes I wasn’t aware that couldn’t make it at home. For example, Warner talks about a Subway Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki sandwich that contains about 105 different ingredients whereas typically, this sandwich should include about 7 or 8 ingredients. The number begins to increase due to the multiple additives, preservatives and powders included to keep the sandwich fresh and appealing to the eye compared to its natural ingredients that would typically spoil or go bad soon. There have been times where you’ve told us that McDonald’s burgers were nothing like homemade burgers, but I didn’t quite understand until after Warner defined processed foods. She also caused me to realize consumers never truly know how their food is produced nor is there any law granting them the right to know where their food came from, but instead the FDA only requires producers to inform us of the ingredients written in fine print on a label.
Furthermore, Warner does a nice job of trying to leave the decision of whose responsible for such unhealthy, yet convenient consumption of processed foods for the reader to decide. Prior to reaching the end of the book, I was on board with the idea that it is the government’s responsibility to not only require companies to inform people about what’s in their food, but I believe specifics regarding how and where it was produced are just as important. I also recall watching Food Inc. in class and being amazed by how much the government knew about a company and their means of production, and still found it unnecessary to inform consumers. It was Kevin’s story in the film that caused me to blame the government and hold them solely responsible. Kevin was two years old when he died from eating a burger from McDonald’s that was contaminated with E. coli. Due to farming turning into more of an assembly line over the years, it’s not quite impossible for any meat in a factory to be contaminated with E.coli. There’s many people who are unaware of what their food goes through before making it to their plate, but it’s partially up to the consumer to make themselves aware of their food processes by way of research since the government fails to provide the information. Warner explains, “the solution to all of our various health problems brought on by poor eating habits, after all, is in our own hands” and by the end of book, she had changed my mind about who I felt was responsible (Warner 220). I began to be a bit more observant and mindful of what I could control within my diet and what seemed to be unavoidable. For example, eating Pop-Tarts for breakfast compared to an omelette and toast is indeed more convenient, but its also more processed meaning there’s additives and preservatives included in their ingredient list and no form of nutrients. Because I’m aware of which is healthier, and which is quicker, as the consumer I’m making the decision of what I’m going to eat therefore the results would fall on me.
In fact, after reading “How to Be Your Own Italian Grandmother” I vowed to follow Chelsea Fagan’s advice to, “feed yourself like you were a welcome guest in your own home, not an ex you were trying to get of,” and so this will also influence my new and improved diet. In following her advice, I will try other forms of “real food” like more fruits and vegetables, unsweetened or raw snacks, a variety of whole dairy products, and more. Warner mentions a blog that includes a list of real foods as well as a descriptive definition and its this list that has helped to shape my current diet. Now, when I prepare a meal or purchase it, I am more conscientious about what I am choosing to put into my body. Warner’s mom said to her, “what you put into your body matters…Just because it’s edible doesn’t mean it’s good for you,” and that will stick with me, especially throughout the remainder of my time away at college (Warner xix). Melanie Warner’s Pandora’s Lunchbox not only informed me and made me much more aware of the food around me, but it encouraged me to gain complete control of my diet and what I choose to include in it. Like I said before, I don’t think you’ll read it but there are a couple things that might grab your attention.
Love Your Oldest,
Bre
I told you I’d be emailing you for a class project for my eating industrial class, so hopefully this long email won’t startle you too much but remind you of how I told you I had plenty of food info for you after reading Pandora’s Lunchbox. Pandora’s Lunchbox is a diet book written to encourage you to eat how you want but to also be aware of what it is that you’re choosing to eat. The author, Melanie Warner, takes multiple approaches in order to get her point across about processed foods in American culture. Throughout the novel, she touches on topics like cheese product ingredients and cereal ingredients, all of which she goes through how the products are made, who makes them, as well as whether or not the producer eats the product. I don’t think you’d like reading it because of the scientific talk she includes which gets a little confusing, but the “fun facts”, as you call them, are worth the read. The second time I met for this class, I decided to be more open-minded about food and how it is processed but I never thought of the “white powders” or “beige powders” that Warner mentioned to be in most of what I eat. I know you’ve stressed the importance and value of eating your fruits and veggies therefore it made me smile when the author mentioned her mom and how she influenced her eating habits.
Although you may think you know what processed foods are, you don’t know Warner’s definition, “something that could not be made, with the same ingredients, in a home kitchen. Your home kitchen” (Warner xviii). After reading this definition, I found myself coming up with examples of times I ate something that couldn’t be made at home and I found myself realizing that sometimes I wasn’t aware that couldn’t make it at home. For example, Warner talks about a Subway Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki sandwich that contains about 105 different ingredients whereas typically, this sandwich should include about 7 or 8 ingredients. The number begins to increase due to the multiple additives, preservatives and powders included to keep the sandwich fresh and appealing to the eye compared to its natural ingredients that would typically spoil or go bad soon. There have been times where you’ve told us that McDonald’s burgers were nothing like homemade burgers, but I didn’t quite understand until after Warner defined processed foods. She also caused me to realize consumers never truly know how their food is produced nor is there any law granting them the right to know where their food came from, but instead the FDA only requires producers to inform us of the ingredients written in fine print on a label.
Furthermore, Warner does a nice job of trying to leave the decision of whose responsible for such unhealthy, yet convenient consumption of processed foods for the reader to decide. Prior to reaching the end of the book, I was on board with the idea that it is the government’s responsibility to not only require companies to inform people about what’s in their food, but I believe specifics regarding how and where it was produced are just as important. I also recall watching Food Inc. in class and being amazed by how much the government knew about a company and their means of production, and still found it unnecessary to inform consumers. It was Kevin’s story in the film that caused me to blame the government and hold them solely responsible. Kevin was two years old when he died from eating a burger from McDonald’s that was contaminated with E. coli. Due to farming turning into more of an assembly line over the years, it’s not quite impossible for any meat in a factory to be contaminated with E.coli. There’s many people who are unaware of what their food goes through before making it to their plate, but it’s partially up to the consumer to make themselves aware of their food processes by way of research since the government fails to provide the information. Warner explains, “the solution to all of our various health problems brought on by poor eating habits, after all, is in our own hands” and by the end of book, she had changed my mind about who I felt was responsible (Warner 220). I began to be a bit more observant and mindful of what I could control within my diet and what seemed to be unavoidable. For example, eating Pop-Tarts for breakfast compared to an omelette and toast is indeed more convenient, but its also more processed meaning there’s additives and preservatives included in their ingredient list and no form of nutrients. Because I’m aware of which is healthier, and which is quicker, as the consumer I’m making the decision of what I’m going to eat therefore the results would fall on me.
In fact, after reading “How to Be Your Own Italian Grandmother” I vowed to follow Chelsea Fagan’s advice to, “feed yourself like you were a welcome guest in your own home, not an ex you were trying to get of,” and so this will also influence my new and improved diet. In following her advice, I will try other forms of “real food” like more fruits and vegetables, unsweetened or raw snacks, a variety of whole dairy products, and more. Warner mentions a blog that includes a list of real foods as well as a descriptive definition and its this list that has helped to shape my current diet. Now, when I prepare a meal or purchase it, I am more conscientious about what I am choosing to put into my body. Warner’s mom said to her, “what you put into your body matters…Just because it’s edible doesn’t mean it’s good for you,” and that will stick with me, especially throughout the remainder of my time away at college (Warner xix). Melanie Warner’s Pandora’s Lunchbox not only informed me and made me much more aware of the food around me, but it encouraged me to gain complete control of my diet and what I choose to include in it. Like I said before, I don’t think you’ll read it but there are a couple things that might grab your attention.
Love Your Oldest,
Bre
Topic Explorer: What's Real Milk? Or Real Meat?
Newspaper Articles:
Candice Choi published, “FDA may force soy and almond 'milk' companies to change labeling” July 18, 2018 onto USA Today. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) began planning standards regarding the definition of milk, which was the milking of one or more healthy cows. Prior to creating a final law, or standard, the FDA must speak with other companies about the change as well as asking for the public’s opinion. Companies began commenting on other plant-based products like “meat grown from culturing cells” or different yogurts. As a result, the public failed to give their opinion specifically about products like almond milk without speaking on foods like veggie burgers and Greek yogurt too.
Anahad O’Connor published, “Got Almond Milk? Dairy Farms Protest Milk Label on Nondairy Drinks” February 13, 2017 onto The New York Times. The dairy industry, including farmers, are fighting Congress and dairy alternative companies for the usage of the term “milk”. They want to stop these companies from calling their “plant-based products” milk, cheese and yogurt because they believe they mislead consumers into thinking plant-based milk contains more nutrients than milk from cows. Those against plant-based products are basing beliefs off the FDA’s definition of milk being a “lacteal secretion obtained by milking one or more healthy cows”. Consumers are increasing the business for plant-based milk for a variety of reasonings including that some believe it’s healthier, even though that’s not true.
Steve Chapman published “The losing war against fake meat” April 25, 2018 onto Chicago Tribune. Livestock groups are demanding that the Department of Agriculture stops using names like “Beyond Beef” and “Impossible Burger” and stop calling any product “synthetic beef” or “vegan meat”. The main complaints were about the burger that “Beyond Meat” offers is plant-based burger smelling, tasting and looking like ground beef yet its specifically telling customers its not ground beef. Even moreso, science is altering the food system where meat is being grown through the reconstruction of cells, all of which cattlemen intend to stop from happening.
All three articles allowed me to further understand this dispute about the use of the term, “milk”. For the original dairy producers, they may feel as if what they’ve grown passionate about producing and selling to be taken away from them in a way that allows them to fall at multiple disadvantages. Plant-based product companies are using the term to describe their product and promote the idea that their product contains more nutrients than the milk that comes from cows, also serving as a way of sharing false information with consumers.
Podcast/Documentary:
Dan Charles spoke about, “Soy, Almond, Coconut: If It's Not From A Cow, Can You Legally Call It Milk?” on the Morning Edition on December 21, 2016. Charles interviews the vice president from the National Milk Producers Federation, Beth Briczinski, and she complains about how dairy alternative products annoy her due to the fact that she feels these companies are confusing consumers. Her company represents the dairy farmers, or original milk producers. She believes that companies want consumers to believe plant-based products have the same nutrients as milk, but that’s not true. 32 members of Congress helped her write a letter to the FDA about this matter while emphasized the FDA’s own definition of milk. Unfortunately, the FDA never responded directly to their letter. This podcast included information regarding Beth’s opinion on plant-based products imitating milk as well as her involvement and effort in talking to the FDA about creating some standard taking away the right to freely use the term “milk” with these nondairy products. It was helpful for her to include her friend as an example of a blind consumer following along with false advertisement. Because these companies have worked so hard to persuade consumers that nondairy alternatives are healthier, they place them in the dairy aisles within the grocery store as if that not contradicting. Prior to understanding this issue of imitating dairy and meat products, I believed that these companies were doing a good job including the parts of the population who were lactose intolerant and vegetarian but after conducting research on the concept, I believe that these companies should make an effort to use another term to describe their products.
Summary of the Topic’s Potential:
This topic strikes me as important with potential policy implications because it’s a situation that is starting to be discussed more on the news, between people in conversation and even on forms of social media. Furthermore, there has been an increase in production of plant-based products like almond milk, soy milk, as well as veggie burgers and meat grown from in science labs. This topic seems important to me because I am a consumer who would much rather be informed of what I’m eating as well as what’s healthier when comparing the original product and alternative. At least if I have the proper knowledge to understand what I’m choosing to put into my body, I can blame only myself because I knew where the product came from and which was healthier. I also think its important for the dairy farmers not to feel like they’ve been robbed not only because of the plant-based companies using the term, “milk” but because of the decrease in consumption of their dairy products.
I believe there is more to learn about this topic because its more than companies misleading consumers about what their products consist of as well as lying about the nutrients included in them. I’m curious to see how those who disagree with plant-based products being referred to as “milk” and “meat” include the falsification of other products like rice and yogurt. Although, milk and meat would be a start in communicating to the FDA that a standard should be created, but I also believe similar products will begin to comment on whether or not they’re “bashing” the original products. This topic serves as interest to my group and I along with two other ideas, but we’ve separated to research each topic.
Candice Choi published, “FDA may force soy and almond 'milk' companies to change labeling” July 18, 2018 onto USA Today. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) began planning standards regarding the definition of milk, which was the milking of one or more healthy cows. Prior to creating a final law, or standard, the FDA must speak with other companies about the change as well as asking for the public’s opinion. Companies began commenting on other plant-based products like “meat grown from culturing cells” or different yogurts. As a result, the public failed to give their opinion specifically about products like almond milk without speaking on foods like veggie burgers and Greek yogurt too.
Anahad O’Connor published, “Got Almond Milk? Dairy Farms Protest Milk Label on Nondairy Drinks” February 13, 2017 onto The New York Times. The dairy industry, including farmers, are fighting Congress and dairy alternative companies for the usage of the term “milk”. They want to stop these companies from calling their “plant-based products” milk, cheese and yogurt because they believe they mislead consumers into thinking plant-based milk contains more nutrients than milk from cows. Those against plant-based products are basing beliefs off the FDA’s definition of milk being a “lacteal secretion obtained by milking one or more healthy cows”. Consumers are increasing the business for plant-based milk for a variety of reasonings including that some believe it’s healthier, even though that’s not true.
Steve Chapman published “The losing war against fake meat” April 25, 2018 onto Chicago Tribune. Livestock groups are demanding that the Department of Agriculture stops using names like “Beyond Beef” and “Impossible Burger” and stop calling any product “synthetic beef” or “vegan meat”. The main complaints were about the burger that “Beyond Meat” offers is plant-based burger smelling, tasting and looking like ground beef yet its specifically telling customers its not ground beef. Even moreso, science is altering the food system where meat is being grown through the reconstruction of cells, all of which cattlemen intend to stop from happening.
All three articles allowed me to further understand this dispute about the use of the term, “milk”. For the original dairy producers, they may feel as if what they’ve grown passionate about producing and selling to be taken away from them in a way that allows them to fall at multiple disadvantages. Plant-based product companies are using the term to describe their product and promote the idea that their product contains more nutrients than the milk that comes from cows, also serving as a way of sharing false information with consumers.
Podcast/Documentary:
Dan Charles spoke about, “Soy, Almond, Coconut: If It's Not From A Cow, Can You Legally Call It Milk?” on the Morning Edition on December 21, 2016. Charles interviews the vice president from the National Milk Producers Federation, Beth Briczinski, and she complains about how dairy alternative products annoy her due to the fact that she feels these companies are confusing consumers. Her company represents the dairy farmers, or original milk producers. She believes that companies want consumers to believe plant-based products have the same nutrients as milk, but that’s not true. 32 members of Congress helped her write a letter to the FDA about this matter while emphasized the FDA’s own definition of milk. Unfortunately, the FDA never responded directly to their letter. This podcast included information regarding Beth’s opinion on plant-based products imitating milk as well as her involvement and effort in talking to the FDA about creating some standard taking away the right to freely use the term “milk” with these nondairy products. It was helpful for her to include her friend as an example of a blind consumer following along with false advertisement. Because these companies have worked so hard to persuade consumers that nondairy alternatives are healthier, they place them in the dairy aisles within the grocery store as if that not contradicting. Prior to understanding this issue of imitating dairy and meat products, I believed that these companies were doing a good job including the parts of the population who were lactose intolerant and vegetarian but after conducting research on the concept, I believe that these companies should make an effort to use another term to describe their products.
Summary of the Topic’s Potential:
This topic strikes me as important with potential policy implications because it’s a situation that is starting to be discussed more on the news, between people in conversation and even on forms of social media. Furthermore, there has been an increase in production of plant-based products like almond milk, soy milk, as well as veggie burgers and meat grown from in science labs. This topic seems important to me because I am a consumer who would much rather be informed of what I’m eating as well as what’s healthier when comparing the original product and alternative. At least if I have the proper knowledge to understand what I’m choosing to put into my body, I can blame only myself because I knew where the product came from and which was healthier. I also think its important for the dairy farmers not to feel like they’ve been robbed not only because of the plant-based companies using the term, “milk” but because of the decrease in consumption of their dairy products.
I believe there is more to learn about this topic because its more than companies misleading consumers about what their products consist of as well as lying about the nutrients included in them. I’m curious to see how those who disagree with plant-based products being referred to as “milk” and “meat” include the falsification of other products like rice and yogurt. Although, milk and meat would be a start in communicating to the FDA that a standard should be created, but I also believe similar products will begin to comment on whether or not they’re “bashing” the original products. This topic serves as interest to my group and I along with two other ideas, but we’ve separated to research each topic.
Grocery Ethnography
I work as a cashier at the Meijer on Hill Road in Flint, Michigan on weekends so I have the advantage of analyzing the supermarket from both the inside and outside perspectives. As a cashier, it is our responsibility to satisfy the customers and make sure they receive the proper service while visiting the store. We accept cash, checks, debit/credit, EBT food/cash, and WIC as payment which involves specific training in the payment area so that cashiers are aware of the multiple scenarios that can occur when a customer is paying for their groceries. During training, the scenario that seemed to shock me was a scenario with a man named Jose`. In the scenario, Jose` was paying for $132.61 worth of groceries with his EBT card, or “bridge card”, but the payment kept denying. When a payment declines on food assistance cards, we are required to print off a slip with the balance so that the customer can know what’s left on their card. After presenting the receipt, Jose` cried out how he has no other way to feed his family and the government doesn’t provide enough help. According to my job, the correct response is, “I’m sorry sir, there is nothing I can do if you have no other form of payment. Thank you for shopping at Meijer”. As a child of a middle class family, I am aware of the advantages and disadvantages within my life, but never did I consider the many people with larger problems in regards to their daily meals, until this course began to reconstruct my interpretation of both, food and food systems.
Now, out of uniform walking in Meijer is a completely different experience. I paid attention to how crew members on the sales floor interacted with customers and made general conversations with clear, genuine intentions. When analyzing customers interacting with others, I realized how everyone smiled when coming in contact with one another as well as saying, “excuse me”, when trying to get by the next person. There were times where I witnessed customers asking other customers for help finding an item if there was no employee around, more times than not, the person would direct them to the correct area or politely decline due to not knowing the area themselves. Furthermore, I paid specific attention to the produce area of the grocery store based on prior discussions in class regarding the quality of produce in grocery stores. Most of the produce was refrigerated without a window, and wet or being sprayed from above with water to keep fresh. As a consumer in search of healthy foods, I would shop at Meijer for their produce based off how its kept with no doubt of sanitation, as well as the looks of their produce, it was all so fresh-looking. On the contrary, I found it ironic for the non-perishable, snack item aisles to be filled with the shoppers with children alongside their grocery cart, it was obvious how much a child can influence the adult’s original grocery list.
This idea caused me to refer back to W. T. Chen’s article, “From Junk Food to Treats” where mothers are interviewed about how their children are fed and what they choose to bring home from the grocery store. She writes, “Mothers emphasize that it is important for their children to stay away from junk food, or not eat too much of it, though they stop short of explaining just how much is “too much” and I was able to apply this concept to my observation of mothers grocery shopping with their children. There was a young mother who seemed to be struggling with telling her son no about a family size bag of Doritos while trying to explain to her daughter why she couldn’t have two snacks and needed to choose between Honey Buns and Oatmeal Crème Pies for her snack choice. I found it interesting that the mother chose to make the daughter pick between the two instead of saying no to both Little Debbie snack cakes and taking her to pick her favorite fruit for snack. This scenario was a prime example of this young mother’s own definition of what “too much” junk food is for her children.
This past weekend I visited the Flint Farmer’s Market in downtown Flint, Michigan. As I entered the market, I was greeted by a group of girl scouts selling cookies to which I found adorable for I was a girl scout during my younger years. Behind the girl scouts’ booth were a variety of booths selling food to products like candles, keychains, and purses. I haven’t visited the market since I was about 11/12 years old, but I was still familiar with the sense of family the market gave me. There were booths open that I remember from my childhood like my friend’s aunt who sells premium baked potatoes from her spot called Spectacular Spudz or the meat booth, J Deans Smoke House, that sells meats like homemade beef jerky and Canadian bacon. I paid close attention to the amount of community members within the market as well as how everyone treated each other and/or made friendly conversation. Flint is a small town and from the looks of the farmer’s market, the citizens are rather community-based.
In further relation to the course, I stopped at a booth called Hey Honey which turned out to be a honey shop that sells clover and wildflower honey raised from owner, Jay Jermos’ family, at Super Bee Apiaries in Kawkawlin, Michigan. Because my group, Team Rong and the Organics, are focusing our final group project on the bee crisis, I decided to chat with Jay. I informed him that I was visiting the market for an assignment in my eating industrial class at MSU and was interested in asking him a few questions. I explained to him the bee crisis and how my group and I are trying to raise awareness of the issue to increase the amount of people willing to help with any possible solutions for saving our bees. Not only was Jay interested because of his business, but he happened to be unaware of how many of his favorite foods need bee pollination in order to be created. Because Jay knew little information about the bee crisis, he was able to provide me with points about the topic that I may not have considered our audience would wonder about if I hadn’t stopped to ask him a few questions followed with fun facts.
For my final grocer, I chose to visit Aldi’s on Corunna Road in Flint, Michigan. Unlike the farmer’s market, I tend to visit our local Aldi’s quite often because its where my mom does all of our grocery shopping. I am familiar with how Aldi’s is ran, where everything is kept and depending on whose working whenever I visit, I tend to know the cashier and catch up talking to them while checking out. Aldi’s has recently become a favorite grocery store of mine because of their reasonable prices for food worth purchasing. I never have to worry about paying too much and not being satisfied or paying less and still not having all that I needed from my grocery list. Aldi’s is also big on customer service so much that while checking out, cashiers will ask, “did you find everything you needed?” and if a customer says no, they’ll follow up by asking, “is there anything you’d like me to help you with?” I appreciate the friendliness and feeling like a priority while shopping in the store. What stood out the most to me in Aldi’s were the slips near the front door to sign up for donations to help send baskets of food to children for Thanksgiving. Every year around Thanksgiving, Aldi’s offers the opportunity to add to their donation to organizations to help feed children for the holidays. I found this idea to be thoughtful and sort of unique compared to Meijer or the farmer’s markets in terms of trying to help those in need that happen to be outside of Flint’s community.
Aldi’s is grocery store with reasonable prices, even more reasonable for low-income families. More times than not, there were customers entering Aldi’s with an ideal grocery list and budget to follow while shopping. When interacting with customers, I asked questions like, “Do you live near this location?” “Do you have children?” and whether or not they preferred a specific brand compared to Aldi’s off branded items. I received responses of all kinds, some in which surprised me like a college student who informed me that he shopped at Aldi’s because they have cheaper prices for products with different brands, yet taste almost the same as the bigger brand products. Geographically, this Aldi’s would’ve been placed in a food desert if Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club weren’t placed across the street but in regards to pricing, Aldi’s provides access to healthy food, unlike the “crude” supermarkets that Tracie McMillan mentions in her article, “Do Poor People Eat Badly because of Food Deserts or Personal Preference?”. She explains her theory of whether or not food deserts are a cause of poor people’s bad diet choices, in relation to this grocer, Aldi’s was originally placed in a food deserted area with a means to help those with low-incomes. Aldi’s is a grocery store where families of all incomes are able to shop for affordable and healthy food while being in a local area which prevents the idea of customers struggling with transportation to go grocery shopping.
Throughout each grocery store/market, there were a variety of cultural aspects affecting the way people shopped, paid for items, and how they communicated with each other. I paid attention to financial status and how it affected José’s plea in having no other form of payment for food to feed his household as well a young woman’s parental skills affect the groceries she purchased for her household. Everyone shops at certain stores for their own reasoning, whether it is the quality of a store’s items, the cleanliness of the store, and/or the friendliness or “at home feeling” that it provides to customers. As a consumer caring about what I choose to place into my body, I make sure to be aware of surroundings when grocery shopping as well as taking the necessary precautions to make sure I am paying reasonable prices for groceries of decent quality.
Now, out of uniform walking in Meijer is a completely different experience. I paid attention to how crew members on the sales floor interacted with customers and made general conversations with clear, genuine intentions. When analyzing customers interacting with others, I realized how everyone smiled when coming in contact with one another as well as saying, “excuse me”, when trying to get by the next person. There were times where I witnessed customers asking other customers for help finding an item if there was no employee around, more times than not, the person would direct them to the correct area or politely decline due to not knowing the area themselves. Furthermore, I paid specific attention to the produce area of the grocery store based on prior discussions in class regarding the quality of produce in grocery stores. Most of the produce was refrigerated without a window, and wet or being sprayed from above with water to keep fresh. As a consumer in search of healthy foods, I would shop at Meijer for their produce based off how its kept with no doubt of sanitation, as well as the looks of their produce, it was all so fresh-looking. On the contrary, I found it ironic for the non-perishable, snack item aisles to be filled with the shoppers with children alongside their grocery cart, it was obvious how much a child can influence the adult’s original grocery list.
This idea caused me to refer back to W. T. Chen’s article, “From Junk Food to Treats” where mothers are interviewed about how their children are fed and what they choose to bring home from the grocery store. She writes, “Mothers emphasize that it is important for their children to stay away from junk food, or not eat too much of it, though they stop short of explaining just how much is “too much” and I was able to apply this concept to my observation of mothers grocery shopping with their children. There was a young mother who seemed to be struggling with telling her son no about a family size bag of Doritos while trying to explain to her daughter why she couldn’t have two snacks and needed to choose between Honey Buns and Oatmeal Crème Pies for her snack choice. I found it interesting that the mother chose to make the daughter pick between the two instead of saying no to both Little Debbie snack cakes and taking her to pick her favorite fruit for snack. This scenario was a prime example of this young mother’s own definition of what “too much” junk food is for her children.
This past weekend I visited the Flint Farmer’s Market in downtown Flint, Michigan. As I entered the market, I was greeted by a group of girl scouts selling cookies to which I found adorable for I was a girl scout during my younger years. Behind the girl scouts’ booth were a variety of booths selling food to products like candles, keychains, and purses. I haven’t visited the market since I was about 11/12 years old, but I was still familiar with the sense of family the market gave me. There were booths open that I remember from my childhood like my friend’s aunt who sells premium baked potatoes from her spot called Spectacular Spudz or the meat booth, J Deans Smoke House, that sells meats like homemade beef jerky and Canadian bacon. I paid close attention to the amount of community members within the market as well as how everyone treated each other and/or made friendly conversation. Flint is a small town and from the looks of the farmer’s market, the citizens are rather community-based.
In further relation to the course, I stopped at a booth called Hey Honey which turned out to be a honey shop that sells clover and wildflower honey raised from owner, Jay Jermos’ family, at Super Bee Apiaries in Kawkawlin, Michigan. Because my group, Team Rong and the Organics, are focusing our final group project on the bee crisis, I decided to chat with Jay. I informed him that I was visiting the market for an assignment in my eating industrial class at MSU and was interested in asking him a few questions. I explained to him the bee crisis and how my group and I are trying to raise awareness of the issue to increase the amount of people willing to help with any possible solutions for saving our bees. Not only was Jay interested because of his business, but he happened to be unaware of how many of his favorite foods need bee pollination in order to be created. Because Jay knew little information about the bee crisis, he was able to provide me with points about the topic that I may not have considered our audience would wonder about if I hadn’t stopped to ask him a few questions followed with fun facts.
For my final grocer, I chose to visit Aldi’s on Corunna Road in Flint, Michigan. Unlike the farmer’s market, I tend to visit our local Aldi’s quite often because its where my mom does all of our grocery shopping. I am familiar with how Aldi’s is ran, where everything is kept and depending on whose working whenever I visit, I tend to know the cashier and catch up talking to them while checking out. Aldi’s has recently become a favorite grocery store of mine because of their reasonable prices for food worth purchasing. I never have to worry about paying too much and not being satisfied or paying less and still not having all that I needed from my grocery list. Aldi’s is also big on customer service so much that while checking out, cashiers will ask, “did you find everything you needed?” and if a customer says no, they’ll follow up by asking, “is there anything you’d like me to help you with?” I appreciate the friendliness and feeling like a priority while shopping in the store. What stood out the most to me in Aldi’s were the slips near the front door to sign up for donations to help send baskets of food to children for Thanksgiving. Every year around Thanksgiving, Aldi’s offers the opportunity to add to their donation to organizations to help feed children for the holidays. I found this idea to be thoughtful and sort of unique compared to Meijer or the farmer’s markets in terms of trying to help those in need that happen to be outside of Flint’s community.
Aldi’s is grocery store with reasonable prices, even more reasonable for low-income families. More times than not, there were customers entering Aldi’s with an ideal grocery list and budget to follow while shopping. When interacting with customers, I asked questions like, “Do you live near this location?” “Do you have children?” and whether or not they preferred a specific brand compared to Aldi’s off branded items. I received responses of all kinds, some in which surprised me like a college student who informed me that he shopped at Aldi’s because they have cheaper prices for products with different brands, yet taste almost the same as the bigger brand products. Geographically, this Aldi’s would’ve been placed in a food desert if Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club weren’t placed across the street but in regards to pricing, Aldi’s provides access to healthy food, unlike the “crude” supermarkets that Tracie McMillan mentions in her article, “Do Poor People Eat Badly because of Food Deserts or Personal Preference?”. She explains her theory of whether or not food deserts are a cause of poor people’s bad diet choices, in relation to this grocer, Aldi’s was originally placed in a food deserted area with a means to help those with low-incomes. Aldi’s is a grocery store where families of all incomes are able to shop for affordable and healthy food while being in a local area which prevents the idea of customers struggling with transportation to go grocery shopping.
Throughout each grocery store/market, there were a variety of cultural aspects affecting the way people shopped, paid for items, and how they communicated with each other. I paid attention to financial status and how it affected José’s plea in having no other form of payment for food to feed his household as well a young woman’s parental skills affect the groceries she purchased for her household. Everyone shops at certain stores for their own reasoning, whether it is the quality of a store’s items, the cleanliness of the store, and/or the friendliness or “at home feeling” that it provides to customers. As a consumer caring about what I choose to place into my body, I make sure to be aware of surroundings when grocery shopping as well as taking the necessary precautions to make sure I am paying reasonable prices for groceries of decent quality.