Meet and greet at the Farmers Market

It’s not only freshness and quality that drop out of the food equation when we shop at huge grocery stores.  We also lose human connections -- with local farmers who grow especially for us and with our friends and neighbors as we meet regularly to participate in the ancient ritual of going to market.

Our Saturday Farmers Market in Stonington is a beehive of activity where people meet neighbors, and farmers indulge in brief bits of education.  By contrast, the local supermarket is a box with a high ceiling where speed and efficiency rule.  Well-oiled carts wide aisles, and brightly lit display cases loaded with over 30,000 items --- all tout the same themes: shop fast, pay less.  Human interactions take a back seat.  Greeters at the door (part-time workers probably earning minimum wage with few benefits) are the only hints that human interaction just may be important.  But most greeters are weary or bored.  We easily ignore each other.

At a superstore there may be over thirty aisles of food but no conversation.  Maybe a “Hello” or “Have a good day” brackets your food transaction. Or maybe not.  If you process your purchases through the increasingly popular self-checkout center, you will get a greeting only if something goes wrong.  Only a machine malfunction brings a clerk who oversees four to six stations to assist you. 

But, is it really important to serve up conversation with the purchase of food or flowers?  Is it possible to raise the bar and put social needs on the same pedestal as economic needs?