Supermarket shopping is getting more and more perplexing these days. For bananas alone, I’m quite amused to see such a selection, to name a few, as ethical bananas from the Philippines, the organic ones from Samoa or simply the plain bonita bananas from Ecuador.
As I moved to the next aisle, I’m offered with more alternative choices such as shade grown coffee beans, fair-trade chocolates, traceable whole milk, free-range pork, cruel-free chooks, cage-free eggs, local beef, green watermelon (no, they’re not necessarily green but they’re the ones which spent the least time on the road which equates to lesser carbon footprint), or organic asparagus. The list goes on, and these of course come at a price.
While I taking a university paper in technology and society a few years back, I was completely convinced that organic food is not necessarily healthy and risk-free. My views however were largely influenced by my Cornell-graduate professor who is a strong advocate of inorganic farming and genetic engineering. When I moved to New Zealand a year later, I’m seduced by the idea of green revolution and like those idealist wannabes, I embraced organics with full enthusiasm.
My scepticism, however, is resurrected as our supermarkets are flooded with these so-called organic and ethical products. Are these organic products really better, or simply a neuromarketing ploy of supermarket giants for consumers to spend a fortune without real benefits? When I buy ethical bananas from the Philippines, will it really financially reward the poor farmers back home, or simply make the multimillion companies behind these ethical brands even richer?
Without a doubt we are navigating through the complex psychological landscape of the supermarket these days. With the bananas, I chose the feijoas instead and continued my grocery shopping with utter bewilderment and fascination.
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