Saturday, January 15, 2011

WHOLE FOOD BAR

Today Sonia n I went to the big ole grand Whole Foods. It was packed with weekend shoppers, hangin out, doing their thang, hunting for foods of healthy organic caliber. We got a little lunch snack and decided to sit on the upper deck overlooking the massive food bar and began observing peoples paths around this overwhelming food smorgasbord. The amount of time people take wandering and trying to figure out which delicious thing to dish up was way longer than expected, at least ten minutes. People seemed overwhelmed by the amounts of great food. I then started zoning in on the mac and cheese. This is clearly the most desired thing of all, there was a clear struggle for the health nuts to back away from this delicious creamy cheesy dish. The behaviour was as such, do a lap around the healthy cold dish bar, then then slow down the speed upon arriving the hot food bar, a long long long pause at the mac and cheese. I could almost see the dialogue going on in these peoples heads
" oh my god, that looks so fucking good I could eat the whole thing... but I just worked out and ran on the treadmill for an hour ... maybe I could just have a little, a little wouldn't hurt ... but Im trying to eat better now so I don't feel so tired and I don't wanna get fat ... man that delicious golden crust on top is making me salivate ... fuck, Ill just get a salad ... I don't want a salad, but Ill get a salad.. sigh" and then they go to the salad bar and get a boring box ful of lettuce n stuff. This behavior happened repeatedly. BUT then, a shift happened, when one person dove into the mac and cheese, then a rash of folk filled their containers with mac and cheese. is this permission? is this getting a green light? more trips to whole foods for observation sessions to figure this out.

THEN the entertainment arrived. A woman in a cheetah hat and coat prowled around the food bar, filling up a mini ketchup cup with food repeatedly and eating it right there on the spot, she was having a feast! She plopped a chicken wing in her itty bitty ketchup cup and ate the thing right in front of the employee twice. She swept around the food bar filling her cup at least ten times with no shame, bumping people out of her way. Finally, she decided to do the "right thing" and fill real container and put a little in there so she could pay for it, she sauntered over to the registers, and paid for her little salad. BUT, she then came back to the food bar and added more to her box. a bonafide food buffet robber! THEN, her friend came buy and guess what she was wearing? A cheetah head scarf and cheetah boots.

AWESOME!! way more entertaining than TV!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Interesting sociological birds eye view. Sounds like the herds shifted to yet another mentality when they received the "mac 'n cheese" validation. My guess is that the cheetah food buffet robber justifies her behavior by "paying," or feels she's being overcharged. And/or she could just be a little cuckoo since cheetah prints do not blend in with the masses....