MLA format.
You should use the course readings to analyze what you learn about how food shopping gets done in your household. Rather than simply make a passing reference to the readings, try to use them as analytical tools to really help understand the conflicts and deeper meanings behind a trip to the grocery store (or other food shopping venue).
Over the course of the semester we have read the work on numerous scholars who have used food to learn about democracy, social status, globalization, history, memory, and much more. A number of these works also speak to the ways in which our social status, ethnic background, ethical beliefs, and other interests are reveled by the ways in which we eat. For this assignment the focus moves to what we can learn about ourselves and our society by studying the way we shop for food. Drawing upon the class readings of your choice (preferably from the second half of the class), analyze how shopping is done in your household.
You might begin by thinking about what you (or the food shopper in your household) prioritizes when they shop. For example, do you have a budget to stay within? Do you shop for healthy ingredients? Quick to prepare meals? Food children or other household members will enjoy?
The second step is to observe shopping and analyze how these values work out in practice. So, for example, buying all organic might be a value your household shares, but that may conflict with your food budget. Similarly, healthy eating might be a value, but foods that members of the household will eat might limit how much healthy eating actually takes place. While I have cited examples of conflicts between values and reality, it is, of course, possible that there is harmony between values and reality in your household’s shopping.
As you analyze how we shop, you should also think about how a scholar we’ve studied might see all of this. Does your family’s shopping habits tell us something about social status? Does it reflect ethic identity? Is it shaped by the geography of your neighborhood?
Good examples of readings you might use are Pressure Cooker, the Lucy Long reading, the reading on Julia Child and Martha Stewart, the readings from Joyce Goldstein or Janet Flammang. Foodies might also provide insight.
You should use the course readings to analyze what you learn about how food shopping gets done in your household. Rather than simply make a passing reference to the readings, try to use them as analytical tools to really help understand the conflicts and deeper meanings behind a trip to the grocery store (or other food shopping venue).
Over the course of the semester we have read the work on numerous scholars who have used food to learn about democracy, social status, globalization, history, memory, and much more. A number of these works also speak to the ways in which our social status, ethnic background, ethical beliefs, and other interests are reveled by the ways in which we eat. For this assignment the focus moves to what we can learn about ourselves and our society by studying the way we shop for food. Drawing upon the class readings of your choice (preferably from the second half of the class), analyze how shopping is done in your household.
You might begin by thinking about what you (or the food shopper in your household) prioritizes when they shop. For example, do you have a budget to stay within? Do you shop for healthy ingredients? Quick to prepare meals? Food children or other household members will enjoy?
The second step is to observe shopping and analyze how these values work out in practice. So, for example, buying all organic might be a value your household shares, but that may conflict with your food budget. Similarly, healthy eating might be a value, but foods that members of the household will eat might limit how much healthy eating actually takes place. While I have cited examples of conflicts between values and reality, it is, of course, possible that there is harmony between values and reality in your household’s shopping.
As you analyze how we shop, you should also think about how a scholar we’ve studied might see all of this. Does your family’s shopping habits tell us something about social status? Does it refelct ethic identity? Is it shaped by the geography of your neighborhood?
Good examples of readings you might use are Pressure Cooker, the Lucy Long reading, the reading on Julia Child and Martha Stewart, the readings from Joyce Goldstein or Janet Flammang. Foodies might also provide insight.
Use 4 of the readings and an external website.
Use an objective approach. Do not extensively use opinion. Follow the prompt.