Food Ethnography Project:
Whole Foods Grocery VS.
C-Town Supermarket
Noreyli Tejeda
Soc300
Prof. Garza
3/30/15
It is an unfortunate reality that millions of Americans are inaccessible to nutritious and healthy foods. This is particularly the case in those living in low income neighborhoods. Food options such as fast-food restaurants and convenience stores are primarily dominant in these areas. The lack of options lead to health issues and higher rates of obesity in these communities. In this ethnography project, I compared the food prices of a Whole Foods Grocery (WFG) in the Tribeca area of Manhattan, to a C-Town Supermarket in the upper west side of the Bronx. I chose to observe these two supermarkets because one is located …show more content…
Upon entering the C-Town, there was a distinctive cleaning solution smell and there wasn’t any noted décor. I had to fight past shopping carts that were filled with flyers and bags and left inconveniently all around the store. No one greeted me upon my entry and the customers seemed to be in a hurry to get out as soon as possible. I approached an employee in the deli department and asked for directions to the organic section. Seemingly annoyed he pointed me in a direction and offered no additional information or character. I noticed that most of the customers had children with them and the store was quite loud. There were only two registers open at which were located in the middle of the store. The lines were blocking aisles and people were bombarding each other trying to get through. The end cap had non-nutritious food in which they were promoting. Additionally, the fruits and vegetables appeared to be thrown on top of each other. Ultimately, I don’t believe that the store provided an atmosphere that was conducive to focused, nutrition based shopping. Finally, I never truly found a dedicated “Organic” section. The differences between the two markets were obvious and …show more content…
C-Town offered very little variety as far as fruits and vegetables were concerned. Sure, your basic tomatoes and onions were available but they didn’t look very fresh and appetizing. However, mostly every item was considerably less expensive than a similar item at WFG. WFG provided fresh, colorful fruits and veggies but also in most instances carried a higher price tag. As the chart below indicates the majority of items were found to be more expensive at WFG versus C-Town. Most of the higher price discrepancies were found when comparing fruits and veggies. For instance, a bag of red apples at WFG was $2.99 while a similar bag at C-Town came out to $.99. Kale was $3.49 per pound at WFG and $1.99 per pound at C-Town. There were few instances where foods could be found cheaper at WFG. An example of this was discovered in the frozen foods section where a pound of shrimp was $11.99 at C-Town and $10.99 at
Whole Foods Grocery VS.
C-Town Supermarket
Noreyli Tejeda
Soc300
Prof. Garza
3/30/15
It is an unfortunate reality that millions of Americans are inaccessible to nutritious and healthy foods. This is particularly the case in those living in low income neighborhoods. Food options such as fast-food restaurants and convenience stores are primarily dominant in these areas. The lack of options lead to health issues and higher rates of obesity in these communities. In this ethnography project, I compared the food prices of a Whole Foods Grocery (WFG) in the Tribeca area of Manhattan, to a C-Town Supermarket in the upper west side of the Bronx. I chose to observe these two supermarkets because one is located …show more content…
Upon entering the C-Town, there was a distinctive cleaning solution smell and there wasn’t any noted décor. I had to fight past shopping carts that were filled with flyers and bags and left inconveniently all around the store. No one greeted me upon my entry and the customers seemed to be in a hurry to get out as soon as possible. I approached an employee in the deli department and asked for directions to the organic section. Seemingly annoyed he pointed me in a direction and offered no additional information or character. I noticed that most of the customers had children with them and the store was quite loud. There were only two registers open at which were located in the middle of the store. The lines were blocking aisles and people were bombarding each other trying to get through. The end cap had non-nutritious food in which they were promoting. Additionally, the fruits and vegetables appeared to be thrown on top of each other. Ultimately, I don’t believe that the store provided an atmosphere that was conducive to focused, nutrition based shopping. Finally, I never truly found a dedicated “Organic” section. The differences between the two markets were obvious and …show more content…
C-Town offered very little variety as far as fruits and vegetables were concerned. Sure, your basic tomatoes and onions were available but they didn’t look very fresh and appetizing. However, mostly every item was considerably less expensive than a similar item at WFG. WFG provided fresh, colorful fruits and veggies but also in most instances carried a higher price tag. As the chart below indicates the majority of items were found to be more expensive at WFG versus C-Town. Most of the higher price discrepancies were found when comparing fruits and veggies. For instance, a bag of red apples at WFG was $2.99 while a similar bag at C-Town came out to $.99. Kale was $3.49 per pound at WFG and $1.99 per pound at C-Town. There were few instances where foods could be found cheaper at WFG. An example of this was discovered in the frozen foods section where a pound of shrimp was $11.99 at C-Town and $10.99 at