MAR 20

15. MAR 20: Unit 4: Food Culture

Assigned Work

• Barber, Dan. Chapter 12: "Land" from The 3rd Plate (158-173) (15)
• Ruhlman, "How the A&P Changed the Western World" (29-42) (13)
• SW3: Neurogastronomy and Dietary Change

Pre-supermarket culture in Italy

• [Digression on pre-supermarket food culture in Italy.]

• Some terms for pre-supermarket shops.
• Some images of Italian supermarkets and remaining small shops today:

• Herbs
• Traditional mercato in Bologna
• Remaining panificeria in Florence, Street food - tripe sandwiches!
• Traditional Pasta Fresca, Bologna.
• Typical Italian supermarket meat section: 1, 2.

Ruhlman, "How the A&P Changed the Western World"

• Modern supermarket: 40-50,000 items. Strong market pressure not to miss consumer preference. In '75 only 9,000.

• Some evidence that lots of choices undermines rational decision making 31. 15 types of eggs. not just small, med, large.

• Background of stores against which rise of "A&P tea company" took place. George Gilman, Great American Tea Company, then Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company. Started with a brand of tea. Higher profit margin than groceries.

• Three innovations: brand, premiums (gifts for purchases made), trading stamps. baking powder a novel product (note, not in Italy). Other early competitors: Grand Union. Brands: consistency, purity (closed containers).

• Importance of branding. Old grocer sold unbranded staples, only competed on price. Canning and boxed foods allow for branding. (Commercial paper bag and cardboard box created during this time.) Also allows for centralized food processing. A&Ps opened at 7 stores a day for a while. Also led to modern supply chain.

• A&P: 1900: $5million, 1925: $350 million, Today: $4.8billion. Power of scaling up supply chains.

• Early 20th century: self-service. Piggly Wiggly. [1]
• 1930s: shopping cart.
• 1920s: refrigeration (allowed for meats and frozen foods). p 41: King Kullen -- sig: bigger store, located off main street. 1930. Depression era.

Barber, Ch 12, "Land" from The 3rd Plate

• Two stories of "terroir" -- gastronomy & ethics

• Eduardo and his geese -- How does Eduardo come across to you?

• In earlier segment, Eduardo is touting the fact that his foie gras does not require force feeding the geese.
• Is the slaughter humane in your opinion?
• Connection between humane slaughter and taste -- pig story 160

• Monesterio and jamon -- [[2]]

• Jamon iberico de bellota (acorn)-- espression of the land. connection with Spanish identity.
• food religion point: 163 eating pork during the islamic occupation showed you were christian.
• the "dehesa" is the locale for the terrior of jamon iberico. enclosure for pasture of sheep built after the reconquista. grass and oaks protected by law. note relationship between the pigs eating pattern in this environment and the arrival of the acorns.
• note the physical limits of the terroir for jamon. note only geographic, but 4 acres/pig. Can't scale this up.

• Remaining pages of the chapter point out the other rich products of the dehesa. The land is very productive. Even the oak trees provide valuable cork. So there is a kind of intensive agriculture here, but it is very specific to what the land and history could create.