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Collected Item: “Grabbing for Groceries”

Give your story a title.

Grabbing for Groceries

What sort of object is this: text story, photograph, video, audio interview, screenshot, drawing, meme, etc.?

Text story

Tell us a story; share your experience. Describe what the object or story you've uploaded says about the pandemic, and/or why what you've submitted is important to you.

Grocery shopping is part of nearly everyone’s life. We’re used to going into a store at most hours of the day and night and finding what we need. Many of us eat out quite often so don’t stockpile food supplies at home and don’t cook at home very often. So grocery shopping pre-pandemic was a relatively easy and boring task. With the pandemic came restaurant closures and restrictions and people started eating at home more often. People started buying greater quantities of food and other grocery items (particularly toilet paper!), which led to shortages and quotas on the purchase of particular items. The grocery store became somewhat of a combat zone, with people battling each other for items and viewing others as the enemies who either were going to steal their food or give them the virus. The entire grocery shopping experience changed precipitously for most individuals and reflected a major shift in how society acquires and shares its food.

Use one-word hashtags (separated by commas) to describe your story. For example: Where did it originate? How does this object make you feel? How does this object relate to the pandemic?

ASU, HST 580, food, grocery, shopping, FoodIsLife, foodways, fear, panic, hoarding, cooking, sanitation, store, complacency, sharing, compassion, urgency, selfishness, ignorance, preparedness, emergency

Who originally created this object? (If you created this object, such as photo, then put "self" here.)

Sharon E. Hunt

Give this story a date.

2021-01-24
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