For this assignment, you will observe, describe, and compare and contrast two different types of food markets in New York City using your ethnographic skills of direct examination/observation, description, and analysis. You will choose two of the three types of supermarkets (below) to visit and observe:
A Large “Standard” Supermarket (Food Bazaar, Stop and Shop, Key Food, etc.)
An “Ethnic” or Special Foods Market (such as vegetable stands, meat shops, bakeries, imported foods stores, etc.)
Farmer’s Market (on weekends in neighborhoods throughout New York City). Find a list of farmers’ markets here.
Spend at 15-30 minutes at each of the two types of markets that you have chosen. Examine, observe, and take careful fieldnotes of the following:
Types of products
What kinds of products does the market primarily sell? Are they fresh or processed? Local or global in origin? How cheap/expensive are the products? What are the most popular products?
Design/layout of the market
How are the products arranged at the market? What kinds of advertising methods are evident in the market (visually, spatially)? You may want to draw maps/diagrams of your markets.
Customers
What kinds of customers did you notice in the market? Age? Race/ethnicity? Gender?
Social interactions/behaviors
What kinds of social interactions did you notice between customers, or between customers and workers? What forms of etiquette did you notice?
Spend some time examining and processing your fieldnotes, thinking about the similarities and differences between the two markets, and write an essay discussing what you’ve noticed and learned. Specifically, what are the main similarities and differences between the two markets? Think about the types of products on sale, the prices, the design of the market, the types customers and workers, and the kinds of social interactions you observed. What do these similarities/differences suggest about the food distribution system in New York City? Does it seem like an equitable, healthy, and socially just system? Why or why not? Provide specific examples to support your arguments.
