COAS E104 Fall 1998 SECTION 0153

GLOBAL CONSUMER CULTURE DR. RICHARD WILK

EXTRA CREDIT ASSIGNMENT 1
The Global Supermarket

Handout date: September 2

Due Date: September 9

Value: Worth 20 points towards your semester grade

Goal: How globalized is our diet?

Assignment: Go to any large supermarket in Bloomington. You might find it easier to go to a more expensive store like Krogers and Mr. D's.

Go through the shelves looking at the national origin of products. Many (though not all) products will have a line on the label (often a very inconspicuous line) which says "product of …..". Canned goods, ethnic foods, and frozen foods are good places to look. You can also ask in the produce section, since they are supposed to be able to tell you the origins of imported fruits and vegetables.

Provide a list of 20 different countries, and one product that comes from each one. No more than eight of the products can come from a single category (like canned fish), so don't just list 20 kinds of imported olives. Give a good description of the product. For example, "Portugal-- 12 oz. Can of "Roland" brand Sardines in olive oil with capers."

Give one paragraph of discussion of this list. Explain very briefly why you think these particular items are imported - what makes them worth carrying around the world? Have we become dependent on food imports in this country?

Please- do NOT do this assignment in a speciality store like Saraga Market or Sahara Mart, where everything is imported. Try to surprise us with something unusual!