FOOD/HEALTH/ MIGRATION
Bodega Observations
In all three bodegas I found that processed food snacks are visible from the first step into the store, as opposed to other food items they sell, such as boxed or canned food that requires some sort of preparation. When asked about why they arranged their stores in this manner, all of the bodega register tenders primarily mentioned that this is because a significant number of their patrons visit their stores for the purpose of purchasing processed snack foods. The store owner of “Candy and Smoke Shop” mentioned that these products along with smoke products are the main selling point of his store, citing the nearness of a supermarket (Morton Williams) as the reason why he does not necessarily advertise his canned or packaged food that required preparation.
The register tender of El Rancho Deli and Grocery discussed the “regular” aesthetic of a bodega and asserted that the appearance of processed snack foods at the front of his store make his store appear more attractive. He mentioned a bodega store near where he lived in the South Bronx, citing its appearance as “ugly, they got no products with bright colors in the front, just cigarettes and dusty groceries, that’s why nobody wanna go in there.” It appears that bodega workers acknowledge the purpose of their jobs and the stores they work in is to sell processed snack foods.
The register tender of El Rancho Deli and Grocery discussed the “regular” aesthetic of a bodega and asserted that the appearance of processed snack foods at the front of his store make his store appear more attractive. He mentioned a bodega store near where he lived in the South Bronx, citing its appearance as “ugly, they got no products with bright colors in the front, just cigarettes and dusty groceries, that’s why nobody wanna go in there.” It appears that bodega workers acknowledge the purpose of their jobs and the stores they work in is to sell processed snack foods.
Survey Observations
After surveying 158 students over the course of several weeks (between April 17th, 2019 and May 3rd, 2019) on the Lehman College Campus, my results were 79 students chose red, 47 students chose yellow, 31 chose orange, and 1 chose black. The most common question I was asked by participants in response to my third question was “what shade of (insert color)?” to which I uniformly answered “whatever shade comes to your mind.”