Thus, supermarkets have complex and mulit-layered tensions and associations with the neighborhood, city/town, state, country, and bioregion in which t

A similar feeling -- of being in a familiar place, yet one totally unmoored from the geography around it -- came over me today in Albertson's. To sustain myself for the shopping ahead I had bought two yogurt cups, and now needed a spoon to consume them. As I traversed the aisles the supermarket towered over me, a placeless cavern. For a moment I honestly didn't know whether I was in Bishop, CA (Vons), Pagosa Springs, CO (City Market), or Oakdale, CA (can't remember what type of supermarket it was). The layout, the goods available, the isolation from the outside world: you can barely tell where in the country you are.

But after writing the last paragraphs, I realized that each big-honkin grocery store had some goods that "placed" it. There are various levels to how these goods fit into the overall store. Some were ridiculous attempts at regionality: at a Blanche's in the Navajo reservation I had for lunch something called "The Zuni," a piece of frybread wrapped around two chicken tenders and some iceberg lettuce. In Bishop I bought J a bottle of 395, a beer name after the highway that runs along the eastern Sierra Nevada. It's brewed in Mammoth, CA, with sage and juniper, the signature plants of the bioregion. (Amongst Yosemite ranger folk, the brew is second only to jean shorts as a hot commodity). In Santa Fe I counted 22 brands of salsa (not including hot sauce) and bought tricolor popping corn and blue corn pancake mix for my dad.

Thus, supermarkets have complex and mulit-layered tensions and associations with the neighborhood, city/town, state, country, and bioregion in which they are stationed.

(Note: One supermarket that stands out from the rest is Sprouts, in Phoenix. That place is beatific, a paradise of reasonable prices, free coffee, and unpretentious healthy food. Also they had a barrel of yogurt pretzels. It's like the In-n-Out of grocery stores: if you're in California, Arizona, Texas, or Colorado, make it a priority to get there.)

(Double Note: Above Note is tongue in cheek. Both Sprouts and In-n-Out are of debatable [at best] character as far as ethical consumption. Isn't everything these days? We also might question the limits of the 'vote with your dollars' paradigm).