The Politics of Grocery Shopping - The Oxford Topic of Food, Politics, and Society - page 652

I think doing one thing at a time [is the best way to make change]. Just making a
decision, like “I'm not going to eat chicken anymore. I can eat everything else but I'm
going to stay away from chicken.” And then maybe the next step would be “I'm going
to eat organic fruits or fruits that are grown by local farmers.” . . . One thing at a time.
It doesn't have to be everything.
Megan, a 31-year-old teacher living in a gentrifying neighborhood in Toronto, felt that
sustainable lifestyles were already accessible where she lived. In this quotation, Megan
presents an optimistic account of how consumer demand can shift the retail environ-
ment toward more progressive options:
The fact that [the discount grocery store] now has a full aisle of organic products.
Since we've lived here in the past two years, an organic bakery and organic butcher
have moved in. So I think that shows that if you support those businesses then other
businesses are going to open up.
Compared to the ecological citizenship ideal-type, shopping and consumption are rel-
atively unproblematized in an eco-shopping perspective, and the experience of shop-
ping for sustainable or green goods is characterized as a source of novelty and pleasure.
Stores that offer exceptional choice and variety in sustainable commodities were often
characterized as exciting places in interviews. For example, Megan described herself as
someone who loves to shop for food, and she expressed excitement at visiting a new
store where she could discover new products in the organic aisle: “If I'm at a different
store . . . I will stop in the organics aisle and see what they have, just to check out if there's
a new product or something different that we haven't tried before.” In interviews with
shoppers at Whole Foods, the most prominent theme articulated was the feeling of
pleasure and enjoyment from the shopping experience, a theme that was particularly
focused on the variety of commodities available (Johnston and Szabo 2011). Olivia, a
35-year-old real estate agent with two young children, saw a trip to Whole Foods as an
accessible form of entertainment, given the busyness of working motherhood:
I enjoy it. And, again that may go to my consumerism and the fact that I like to troll
the aisles and look at the twenty different kinds of teas because that is my outlet right
now. . . . My outlet right now is shopping. So walking down that aisle and looking at
the packaging of the teas and the different varieties is my way of relaxing right now.
Which is a sad commentary, but that is the truth. So I enjoy the selection there.
The eco-shopping perspective emphasizes the agency of consumer, and the potential
of eco-shopping to produce change. This is not surprising, given that food politics dis-
course, as articulated within the marketplace, typically emphasizes the power of con-
sumer demand and the ability to make change through market measures (Johnston
2008). Kerri, a project manager with an environmental group, described consumer
agency as “ very effective, actually, more so than the voting. Because it's all about con-
sumer demand, right? If all these consumers are wanting all these green products then
the companies are going to jump on board pretty quick.” According to Marie, a business
consultant, “consumers have a huge power in their wallets. It's . . . much more power-
ful . . . than people realize.”