Education & Advertisement
All retailers to whom we spoke have a specific audience whom they directly serve and for whom they cater and concentrate their service, and these power users provide the bulk of their emotional and monetary encouragement. However, retailers also care immensely about educating other people, who are not necessarily part of their primary audience, with the aim to make these people aware of the impact of their food related actions and encourage a variety of dialogs about what choices to make and why. R11 explained a teaching experience, saying, “It was this amazing experience for me, I felt like I taught someone something and you just can’t get that at [another store]. That’s why I want to work there…that’s expected of us and that’s what people expect when they come in." The act of educating is also is a crucial part success for many retailers. “[Customers] love getting stories. They love having that story evolve. If they know more about your farm, what’s going on at the farm, if you share that with them, they love it!”(R17). A butcher explained his specific difficulties, "We can’t just bring it in and put it in the case and make it look good. We have to sell it to the customer, 'let’s have a dialogue about what you’re going to do with that so you get the best possible end product'" (R10).Despite this genuine desire to educate the public, retailers also expressed the plethora of barriers they have to overcome to do just that. Sous-Chef R2, explains the difficulties associated with information exposure: “Other Restaurant Y lists their purveyors on the menu. Some people are imitated by that [they] think it is snooty and pretentious. So we quickly learned that this is the not the best route to take. I think it is important to give credit to who raised this etc. but this is also a business and we have to do our best to make money. ‘Why is it so much for a hamburger?’ They don’t know how much work it is to raise that cow, to use it, to caramelized the onions for four hours and make the pickles by hand and how we processed it. We are always happy to give more information about this to others, but…all some people want is lunch. They don’t want politics etc…"Even if people do want more information, retailers have little time, advertising space, and insufficient external resources that cater to each customer’s individual interests while providing them a glimpse of the whole political, economic and social morass. The story of our modern day food system, its history, effects and alternatives is complex and relating this expansive topic to an individual’s meal is daunting. R18 reiterated the difficulties with trying to explain the complex topics associated with food: “I'd like to see a growing sophistication in the part of people who eat food (and that's everyone)…Stop looking for simple solution…It's not local is up and organic is down or driving is bad and bicycling is good…not reducing everything to a sound bite…we could teach each other…all of us educating everyone about how complex the food system is…how much food permeates our economy. I would like to see a growing awareness of how complex food systems are in the general public, in every level of society. To understand that we are in a system and how political food is and how vulnerable and delicate the planet is. A lot of people still are not really aware of it." This process can be frustrating. R13 elaborated: “One of the difficult things is telling the story over and over...trying to make it sounds relevant and fresh. He’s been telling the story…[but]…It feels like ‘don't you guys know this stuff already?’ The story: about sustainability, what is the difference, why you need to be concerned about it…So many people are short sighted in what they think about when they purchase things that it's a little frustrating…(“Having to tell this story over, and over and over and over”)…but you can't go down that road, sometimes you gotta sit down with your kids and explain it to them.”