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groceries
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2022-03-01
HIST30060: A Birthday and a Case
For my 21st birthday, I tried to be sensible. We didn't go clubbing, even though they were back open and we hadn't really had a chance to go for three years, and we didn't even go to a bar. 5 of us went to a private karaoke room. We should have been safe. Unfortunately, however, the next day one of my friends texted us that he had tested positive, and pretty soon we were all locked in our apartments. On the 7th day, I tested negative, so, fortunately, was able to go out again. It was a difficult week: I didn't know that many people in Melbourne, and the few I did were equally as infected and were in their own quarantines. I knew no one who could drop off groceries and medication, and online ordering was difficult due to my location. I was incredibly lucky that it was no longer 14 days, but I can certainly say that the 7 were not enjoyable. Fortunately, I was also generally not that unwell (just a fever and a bad cough) and lived in a studio apartment so I had no risk of infecting anyone else. Nevertheless, it was lonely and miserable and I was running out of food. Happy Birthday to me. -
2022-08-22
Sensory Roadblock: Unexpected Detriments and Benefits of Mask-wearing in Gathering Food and Information
During the pandemic, I opted to order all of my groceries online to be delivered. I have never been much of a take-out person and mostly cook at home, so I really love to pick my ingredients when grocery shopping. Missing the in-store grocery shopping experience over the past few years, I sometimes go out to gather my fresh foods, especially after the normalizing of social distancing and mask regulations. Though I still prefer to wear a mask, even when regulations are occasionally loosened, a sensory occurrence that I did not expect to miss or lack as a consequence of mask-wearing is the importance of smell in my food-gathering habits. Being able to check the ingredients for both flavor and freshness qualities by smelling them is such a natural instinct that most lifeforms use to find their food. I never considered myself someone who actively smells things very often, so this sensory roadblock surprised me, as I initially chose to go to the store to get better foods than those that had been delivered to me. I have often come home and found that the asparagus or meat that I had just bought had that unpleasant odor of food past its prime, even though its appearance and texture seemed just perfect. I also miss being able to smell the full intensity of the fresh-cut flower bouquets that proclaim the seasons when going out grocery shopping. This temporary lessening of sense-of-smell from wearing a mask has been a bit of a hinderance in such ways, but it has been beneficial in many others. For example, I have dust allergies and used to become very stuffy after visiting my library due to the book dust—especially since, as a history and art history graduate student, all the books that I want or need to check out are usually the oldest or dustiest ones! Not being able to smell or breathe-in these things has helped me dramatically in my experience of information gathering. I can now spend hours looking over books that I wouldn’t have thought of opening before and have found some wonderful sources for my research. Though of course many historical texts are fully available in online formats and an invaluable resource, I often feel the same way about visiting my library as I do visiting my grocery store—I hope to find something myself that might work even better for my own project, either culinarily or academically. -
2020-05-22
Lining up to Shop
This image shows a line outside of a Walmart in Katy, Texas. During the spring and summer of 2020, I would make it part of my routine to visit the grocery store at 7:00am every Friday morning. People would line up outside of the doors waiting for them to open. It was too early for anyone to talk. I'm sure people rather not talk to one another because we were to remain 6 feet apart-- with duct tape lines suggested on the sidewalk. Plus, standing in the southeast Texas humidity made us all melt under the masks. Once the doors opened, people would grab a cart and rush in. From there, it would be a race to the back of the store where the water, toilet paper, milk, and paper towels were stored. However, my prize was disinfectant wipes. The cleaning aisle was my first stop every Friday morning. Very rarely would I get lucky and any Clorox or Lysol wipes would be on the shelves. Today, I have about a dozen containers on a shelf in my garage... and I continue to buy more. -
2020-04-19
Home gardening blooms around the world during coronavirus lockdowns
Gardening and growing one's own food is a major trend resulting from the pandemic. In Russia, the U.S., Singapore, and Great Britain, people are turning to gardening to combat fears of food shortages and going to grocery stores and to provide a fun activity for adults and children who are working or attending school at home. -
2020-11
Working in a pandemic
This shows how it can be difficult to remember all the changes the pandemic has created. People forget things, like the new one way aisles. Not everyone has malicious intent when it comes to the pandemic. One way aisles were created in stores and such to allow for social distancing in the aisles. This is probably one of the most ignored new guidelines, but at least the effort is there. As long as people try their best to follow these guidelines it is important not to judge people to hard. It seems this generation tends to want to judge people for forgetting to follow some of these guidelines, but everyone is learning together. People should not take all of this to heart. It can be difficult to check if there is an arrow, especially since not all stores use them. -
2020-09-27
How Canadian Food Buying and Cooking Habits Have Changed Due to Covid-19
This article provides additional context to the Canadian baking experience during COVID-19 by examining food buying habits of families and how they shopped prior to the outbreak. -
03/21/2020
Susan Gould Oral History, 2020/03/21
Susan Gould describes her preparations for COVID-19 and what everyday life is like in a state mandated lockdown. She also explains how her employer, Menorah Park, a nursing home located in the epicenter of Ohio’s Covid-19 outbreak responded to the pandemic. -
04/01/2020
Alan Geiger Oral History, 2020/04/01
Description written by curator: Grant Gilmore, of Ohio, conducts an oral interview with Alan Geiger of Florida. In the 35 minute interview they discuss numerous topics about the covid-19 virus including news coverage, politics, China, grocery shopping, obtaining prescriptions, spring break, snowbirds, gardening, fishing, amusement parks, homeschooling, church, quarantine, shelter at home, delivery, take out, "stupid people", and being prepared. -
2020-05-29
Grocery Store Reminders
Grocery stores have altered the way that their stores function to accommodate for the new guidelines put out by the CDC. At the local Stater Bros store, this mean plastic barriers at all registers, tape on the floor to show proper social distancing, and the halt of the usage of reusable bags brought by the customer