For our task concerning the culture of food, we went to two very different stores. One was Pipkins Market in Blue Ash. At this fresh fruits and vegetables market, the owners cater to local consumers and people willing to travel to find fresh produce, which is as local as possible. On all the signs they write where the produce came from. It helps a person know what is in season. When the apples are only from the west coast, and they are looking a little old, it is time to start eating the peaches that are from Indiana or South Carolina. In the fall, the apples come from local orchards. The eggs Pipkins carries are from a local farmer who has field raised hens. People drive from far away for these eggs because they are the best, but they are also seasonal. Pipkins also has a garden center, which is very popular in spring. The people there are very friendly and willing to talk to you about anything. They taste all the produce to make sure it is good, and they will tell you about that too, if you ask. It is small and generally quiet, except on weekends it can get pretty crowded. In addition, they hire local high school kids to work there, so they are very involved in their community. When we needed more fodder for our compost heap, they let us come and get several barrels of their reject fruit.
In contrast there was Jungle Jims, the international grocery store. It is not just a place to buy things from other countries, it is an international experience. The middle eastern and south asian men stand in the parking lot and chat while their wives go in and shop. Little kids run around and yell at their moms in several languages, and there are multilingual produce preparers to help anyone learn to cook the strange vegetables. They even had stalks of sugar cane. When one of the students asked the tour guide ($5.00 per person for a guided tour with samples of select delicacies) if Jungle Jims was better than Pipkins, the tour guide refused to answer. That was very interesting. He said, "It depends on what you want," and left it at that. He also said that when he gives tours to people from countries other than America, they tell him that seeing the brands of food from their home country helps them feel less homesick, so I suppose Jungle Jims provides a certain kind of culinary therapy. Food
is love, you know. Jungle Jims is huge and a person can get lost in it. In that way it is quite different from Pipkins. It has a greater variety, and often the origin of the food is posted, or it is obvious. There were huge bags of rice and tea from India, for example. The carbon footprint of JJ is huge, whereas the carbon footprint of Pipkins is smaller. Nevertheless, there are things available at JJ that are available nowhere else. I suppose one must save up carbon credits from shopping at Pipkins to spend them at JJ.
For our task concerning the culture of food, we went to two very different stores. One was Pipkins Market in Blue Ash. At this fresh fruits and vegetables market, the owners cater to local consumers and people willing to travel to find fresh produce, which is as local as possible. On all the signs they write where the produce came from. It helps a person know what is in season. When the apples are only from the west coast, and they are looking a little old, it is time to start eating the peaches that are from Indiana or South Carolina. In the fall, the apples come from local orchards. The eggs Pipkins carries are from a local farmer who has field raised hens. People drive from far away for these eggs because they are the best, but they are also seasonal. Pipkins also has a garden center, which is very popular in spring. The people there are very friendly and willing to talk to you about anything. They taste all the produce to make sure it is good, and they will tell you about that too, if you ask. It is small and generally quiet, except on weekends it can get pretty crowded. In addition, they hire local high school kids to work there, so they are very involved in their community. When we needed more fodder for our compost heap, they let us come and get several barrels of their reject fruit.
In contrast there was Jungle Jims, the international grocery store. It is not just a place to buy things from other countries, it is an international experience. The middle eastern and south asian men stand in the parking lot and chat while their wives go in and shop. Little kids run around and yell at their moms in several languages, and there are multilingual produce preparers to help anyone learn to cook the strange vegetables. They even had stalks of sugar cane. When one of the students asked the tour guide ($5.00 per person for a guided tour with samples of select delicacies) if Jungle Jims was better than Pipkins, the tour guide refused to answer. That was very interesting. He said, "It depends on what you want," and left it at that. He also said that when he gives tours to people from countries other than America, they tell him that seeing the brands of food from their home country helps them feel less homesick, so I suppose Jungle Jims provides a certain kind of culinary therapy. Food is love, you know. Jungle Jims is huge and a person can get lost in it. In that way it is quite different from Pipkins. It has a greater variety, and often the origin of the food is posted, or it is obvious. There were huge bags of rice and tea from India, for example. The carbon footprint of JJ is huge, whereas the carbon footprint of Pipkins is smaller. Nevertheless, there are things available at JJ that are available nowhere else. I suppose one must save up carbon credits from shopping at Pipkins to spend them at JJ.
I'm finding all of this--and your students' blogs--fascinating. I hear you're off to Chicago next?
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